I actually did not post the activities since I am not on TikTok...BUT! Here's one post that she did that speaks directly to what Republicans are trying to do to young people and their ability to vote:
Marlo, I have been somewhat confused by your metaphor "All hands in deck."
Having some nautical inclinations I have assumed you meant all hands ON deck as it would be difficult to sail a ship with all hands IN the deck. On the other hand (😉) as I do not play cards much, might you be referring to some demand in a card game?
See below about calling McHenry to implement Rank Choice Voting if he really believes in the democratic process. Anyone should be able to nominate who they wish and majority should win.
👍Call McHenry first (828) 327-6100 and (202) 225-2576. As Speaker Pro Tempore, it is his one function to see a Speaker is chosen. He can implement Rank Choice Voting.
“If they in any way believed in the democratic process, they would come to the floor, allow anyone to nominate who they will, and then take the vote and see who gets to a majority first. And stay there until there is a Speaker.”
I have called both numbers & left messages. I told him America was watching the House Republicans and him, as Speaker Pro Tempore.
He has the ability to implement a fair process that would get the job done. The House Republicans didn’t get their way (or rather Trump’s way) with McCarthy to shutdown the government; this is the next best thing.
So CALL and put pressure on McHenry to implement RCV which would end this fiasco in a day.
Praises for Abbas....another great leader....encouraging peace and aid for those in extreme need.
This conflict involves other, so called "leaders" who do not mind using the sufferings of their fellow human beings to gain power by creating disruption and by inflicting pain.
Rather than working together for the good of all in this world.... some cruel "leaders" choose to take away food and clean water disrupting the lives of men, women and children to gain personal power.....how sad...when we could simply talk with one another and find ways to work together. We as humans make it so difficult.
Thank you President Joe Biden and TEAM for working towards peace.
Thank you Emily for making this point. I do not think it can be put strongly enough. Barring a completely unforeseen event, President Biden will go down in America’s small pantheon of truly heroic, game-changing Presidents. In the era when the Republic was firmly established, only Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and now Joe Biden have brought light to true darkness.
Lincoln saved the nation in the ultimate deadlock over slavery. Had he served out his two terms and then become a sort of President emeritus, American history might have avoided the blackest moments of Reconstruction and the Jim Crow movement might have gotten a lesser hold. There are no guarantees there, but emancipating the slaves and steering the North to eventual victory are accomplishment enough.
By contrast Roosevelt did not end the Depression. World War II with its massive thirst for armaments and supplies did. However Roosevelt did something more important. He gave hope to a nation stuck in a terrifying morass. He established the modern welfare state, both a practical act and one that illuminated the principles of Christianity that America is so devoted to. He staved off Nazi and Communist attempted mobilizations of the American people. And he deftly led America through all of World War II.
I would personally love to include Lyndon Johnson in this very small pantheon of great leaders. What he accomplished was groundbreaking. But, like America, he got bogged down in Vietnam and that war has tarnished what could have been a sterling legacy.
And now Joe Biden. A month ago we were fretting over his low standing in the polls. Fox and other paragons of the MAGA Malevolence Misfits had been making progress on his supposed senility. There was a serious attempt to tie him to his son’s peregrinations by desperate Republicans. There were even strong rumblings from within the Democratic Party that a younger leader was needed.
After the events of the past two weeks, I hope that some people are feeling suitably abashed. The unthinkable has happened in Israel, an event so barbaric and fraught with the darkness of the human heart, has been influenced greatly, dare I say decisively by the words and actions of America’s President. To the outside world he has supported Israel with a passion that has overwhelmed the people. There has not been an ounce of equivocation. Israelis have reacted strongly, with gratitude and a seed of hope emerging from the blackness of their sorrow.
But I am certain that Biden has cajoled and strong-armed the Israeli leadership. One would have said this was a near impossible task, given the astonishing arrogance of the entrenched far right politicians in that country. There now seems to be a chance that an all out slaughter, borne of blood red rage, an event which would send the Middle East (perhaps the world) into desperate convulsions, may not be as bad as feared. Biden has forced Israel to consider the cost if they obey their worst instincts and this may save the region. It is obviously too early to say how this will turn out. But it looks like there’s a grain of hope.
Lincoln, Roosevelt, elements of Johnson’s Presidency. And now the unexpected hero - a subtle, experience, tough, and loving President.
This is not to say that there have not been other extremely good Presidents. But I can’t think of one who can measure up to the stature of the four I named.
And in the wings, where we can peek at them in bemusement as fancy strikes us, is a party that is failing in a spectacular way. What a foul for Biden.
Unserious people do unserious things. They break the crockery. They come to destroy, not realizing that that is the antithesis of good government. If they stick around long enough, they can do damage. Ultimately they soil themselves and slink off a stage much too big for their meager personalities and intellects.
FDR instituted many efforts to deal with the depression before Japan changed focus. He had terrific blowback from the start, including but not limited to the Coup of 1933. Give the man his due. LBJ was mislead by McNamara, and his efforts to end the war flumfloxed by Nixon. Repubs have always been on the other side of any efforts at helping the American people. Truman said it best. “Socialism is the epithet Republicans throw at any effort to help all the people. Close enough, and true
I’m in my 70s and I agree wholeheartedly. Eisenhower ran a stable administration that did nothing to alter the course of FDR’s progressive measures. (Unfortunately his VP was heavily involved with the Mafia, a predilection that would eventually lead to his downfall).
Generally Republicans governed and acted in opposition with reason and pulled Democrats back to the center. They were a useful opposition - a vital necessity in any democracy. But after 1980 the Republican swerve towards the uncompromising and dark side began taking America down the path that led to Trump. And that story did not end well.
Thank you for the Truman quote. Yet another medal for the haberdashery man from MO. Wondering for the first time how and why FDR selected him for VP. Was it that he understood who this rather uncharismatic senator was capable of?
I just want to reply to my own comment. It feels monstrously egocentric.
But just two points:
1.
No idea why the phrase “For a foul” sticks it’s irrelevant head up at the bottom. Sorry.
2.
Liz Cheney for Speaker. Yeah, yeah, I know - dream on. But what a marvelous act of demotion it would be for the Republican House to swallow hard and invite her back in.
Speaking as a veteran of the Vietnam War, I would not include LBJ on any list of great presidents. H.R. McMaster's account of how the Johnson Administration pushed America into a long and losing war in Southeast Asia tells the tale: "Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam."
The only thing I give LBJ any credit for was the Civil Rights Act. I blame him also for Vietnam as well as McNamara. Wife of Vietnam vet here. Thank you for serving in one of the worst wars ever, Thomas.
Eric, as always, your comments are wise and informed. After the constant drumbeat concerning Biden's age and "senility," including Scott Pelley's comments about how tired he looked, I've been buoyed by his stellar public comments and speeches. He is always careful to reiterate to Netanyahu and his authoritarian crew that restraint must be practiced in retaliation for Hamas's atrocities, and differentiating between Palestinians and Hamas, as well as broaching the need for a Palestinian state. I heard a commentator state that Biden is much beloved than is Netanyahu by the Israelis and polls much higher there than Netanyahu.
I truly hope that our crockery-breakers are eventually going to lose their noxious grip on our own country and we can once again attempt our quest to become a beacon for the good in this world, despite our frequent missteps, and in doing so perhaps Biden will rightfully regarded among our best statesmen.
In the beginning of your comments, you include Theodore Roosevelt. While Teddy's legacy included many laudable achievements, didn't you mean to say Franklin Roosevelt? His shortcomings of bowing to this country's antisemitism (which sadly still exists) and not rescuing more Jews during WWII do not overshadow his many achievements, which you so aptly pointed out.
The "entrenched far right politicians" currently in Netanyahu's coalition are despised and opposed by the majority of Israelis (my family there and Israeli friends included). A reckoning will come with this coalition when Israel is out of the dangers of the present horrible situation. For now, the sane and decent military leadership, as well as the folks who led the protests against Netanyahu's extremists, have turned on a dime to unite - volunteering in a myriad of ways to help their countrymen survive, to overcome the trauma that occurred on October 7, and insure it never happens again.
Meanwhile, I ask that, along with the strongarming by the US of Israel's leaders determined to destroy Hamas in Gaza, Egypt also be strongarmed, indeed shamed, into allowing a humanitarian escape route to get helpless Gazans out of the way, something Egypt has refused to do so far. Hamas has made Gazan's lives a living hell for many years and cares even less about what happens to them now in Israel's attempts to destroy these terrorists. In truth, Gazans need liberating from Hamas, much more than from Israel. If you don't believe me, I encourage you to read interviews done secretly, early in 2023, with Gazans - look for What's Life Like Under Hamas - whispered in Gaza". Egypt has plenty of space to set up temporary shelter for people wanting to escape, allowing Israel to do the job Egypt surely appreciates (Hamas = Moslem Brotherhood; put down already in Egypt), but dare not admit publicly, to avoid angering the "Arab street". Surely other nations would contribute to the cost of temporarily sheltering these people and rebuilding Gaza eventually. Money is already pouring in to help Gazans, but who knows if it won't land in the hands of Hamas?
If Egypt (and other Arab countries) truly support the Palestinian cause, it's time they show it by calling out Hamas and their ilk for the fanatical and violent leaders who are in the way of their ever being a Palestinian state next to Israel. Israel does not want to stay in Gaza; they just want peace on their borders, as they sought in 2005, when they left Gaza under Palestinian control. If not for the violent belligerence that persists with groups like Hamas, there would have been a Palestinian state begun years ago, a result of one of the many attempts Israel has made to achieve compromise. I know Israelis would still accept such. They can deal with their own extremists when the time comes - as they did in leaving Gaza - when Palestinians demonstrate they can be peaceful neighbors.
Thank you Laura. From what I read, truthful or not, both Egypt and Israel were arguing over how to inspect the trucks hauling the humanitarian aid from bringing in weapons for Hamas. That has been settled and the aid trucks are on their way. I just hope there is security for the truck convoy to prevent Hamas from stealing the aid and selling it for weapons, as has happened in the past. It is time for the Arabic world to disown these terrorists and protect the ordinary citizens. It is beyond obscenity that the Palestinians and others of Muslim religion should be forced to live in squalid poverty so their leaders can live the lives of elitists and their insane Jihadists can have all the weapons their ugly hearts desire. The Palestinians are humans, just like us and the Israelis. Get rid of those cruel Jihadists and there might be a chance for the real people to live peaceful and more prosperous lives. What happened 2 to 5 thousand years ago is done and gone. No matter what they promise, the trump's, de santis', jihadists cannot bring it back. Personally I'm glad of that fact.
I doubt that the women of Afghanistan would agree with you on the world-historical wonderfulness of Joe Biden, who left them them to the custody of the Taliban because he wanted kudos for “ending a war.” For that matter, I doubt that the families of the thirteen military members who got killed during Joe’s Afghanistan skedaddle would agree with you either.
It’s a fair point Thomas. My feelings on that are mixed. It was far past time for that war to end. The planning was, to be charitable, faulty to be sure. But Afghanistan has for centuries been intractable. On balance I think Biden made the correct decision. His intelligence reports on the strength and proximity of the Taliban were poor. Perhaps he could have waited longer to firm up matters. But on balance I do not think ending a 20 year war without some measure of cocking up could be expected.
Has that event entirely colored your assessment of Biden?
The United States was no longer fighting that war; there were fewer than 2,000 US ground troops in the country when Biden made his stupid decision simply to abandon Afghanistan. Not only did he pull the troops out, he halted all aid and logistical support to the Afghan armed forces. Then, when the predictable disaster occurred, he had the nerve to call it “the greatest airlift in history.”
It’s no coincidence that after that debacle, which remains a stain on this country’s honor, V. Putin decided to go ahead and invade Ukraine. And things just keep getting worse—thanks in large part to our president’s incompetence and poltroonery.
So yes, abandonment of Afghanistan does indeed color my assessment of Joe Biden.
I’m still not sold. First of all the war had gone on for a ridiculous length of time. It was pointless to prolong the agony any longer. Secondly America was still pouring oceans of money into Afghanistan. I remember reading that the US was supporting a “plywood army”. There was no future in continuing to do so and there was indeed a high cost. The Afghan Army was plagued by desertions. Frequently they weren’t getting paid. The US would have needed a surge in some sort to back the Army to keep out the Taliban. Who would have had stomach in America for a greater effort? The withdrawal was mishandled. American intelligence on the speed at which the Taliban would move was terrible. That’s certainly a “buck stops here” failure for the President to wear.
As for drawing a connection between Russia-Ukraine and the exit from Afghanistan, if Putin expected a weak response from the US. he got a rude shock. In a nuclear-armed world, Biden has gone up to the edge of what is possible in standing up to Russia. Given Russia’s abysmal invasion of Afghanistan, Putin in particular should have realized that the American withdrawal there was not exactly without precedent.
One last point - it’s been years since I last read or heard “poltroonery”. That made my day. :)
One of the points that was so important for President Biden to make in his personal meeting was that Israel should not make the same mistake as the U.S. did after the 9/11 attack. He was meeting Netanyahu on common ground of having been attacked. We reacted very wrongly. President Biden asked/urged/cajoled Netanyahu to act with restraint despite the horror and the grief.
Eric, you CAN edit your comments here, you know. Just look for the little ellipsis (3 dots) at the bottom right margin under your comment. Click on that and you'll see 2 possibilities, Edit or Delete. If you click on "Edit", your comment will be posted in a form so that you, and only you, can change, edit, add, delete phrases, whatever. When done, hit "Save" and voila it will reappear corrected! It's a handy feature so at least we can change things and not seem the victims of too many "brain cramps"!
Sone Michigan news from Anna Liz Nichols at Michigan Advance.
One (1) of the 15 Michigan Fake Electors, JAMES RENNER, has entered a Plea Agreement with the MIchigan AG. Details of Plea Ahrrement have not be nreported.
State evidence is admissible in Federal actions and in the GA RICO case.
Ann also reports a 2nd Fake Electors is being medically examined for mental capacity.
Thanks for good info. Please keep it coming. We all know someone who knows someone who is related to this in one way or another. Everyone in the state needs to learn the details-who was recruited? Who did the recruiting? Clearly the penalties for those who did the recruiting should be far more stringent than the penalties for those who cooperated, barring the one or ones who prove mentally incompetent, of corse.
Elon Musk , by allowing conspiracy theories and misinformation to exist on X, is a TERRORIST. Hate speech is not free speech and is not covered by the Constitution.
“Irrits”is a good way to describe being on the site formerly known as Twitter.Musk has ruined this site.It used to be one of my favorites to get a variety of information but sadly, no more.It is a worthless hate-fest that I no longer use.
My guess is he is as vain and nacisstic as his hero, Donnie, and therefore couldn't bear to give it a name thought up by someone else when he (supposedly) had paid so much for it but he probably pays like his hero - not at all. He wanted Twix but that was taken.
Yeh! His special genius has square-cut boundaries. "Twitter" was so innocent and stupid, it was fun. I remember Elizabeth Taylor giggling away in her hospital bed because she could "tweet". I don't think an "X" would have held a promise of smiles or comfort to her closing days.
Here is another Harvard trained fascist lawyer we should lock up. Gift link to NY Times. Seems Harvard produces fascist guys on a routine basis. Matt Gaetz comes to mind as well. Also. Ron DeSantis. Ted Cruz too.
Years ago I was a senior editor at the Harvard Business Review. At one point I put up a series of blogs attempting to get at the issue of ethics in business and whether business schools had a hand in the financial meltdown of 2008. The answer, from the Big Thinkers (including a lot of Harvard Business School professors) was a tepid yes. But only a few schools were doing anything about it.
I tend to doubt that it is Harvard's professors (call me naive) who are indoctrinating their students. I think that because of different reasons and backgrounds, such as the legacy admissions (and parental expectations) and the reality that many people who go to Harvard come from well-to-do (wealthy or just plain incredibly rich) family backgrounds, they spend their time there trying to gain additional ideas, information, and strategies for staying rich, for living up to their parents' expectations, for maintaining a family image of what success is, and getting rich or richer themselves.
Also, there are many students who try to get admitted and matriculate there because of the reputation and connections. An edge, you might say. I think their values were already created from their earlier years and their families. Many are not geared or destined to be corrupt and soulless. Most of the people named and used as examples here are insecure people trying to get respect. Many have Daddy issues. Many already have an "I'll show you!" attitude when they arrive there. Some professors may "feed" that need, but for me, having studied families, ethics tend to start forming early in our lives. I've come to believe that the "hands off the family" approach to supporting parents and their children is not the way to go. And if any of you consider that there were times in your own lives you ardently wished someone would save you from your family ...
I believe that a tenet of modern capitalist business practice is that businesses are beholden to their shareholders above all else, not to society, ethics, public good, or anything else. Presumably Harvard and other business schools teach this. I'm not an economist or business expert, so if anyone can correct me or add nuance on this, please do.
Years ago, I had the privilege of an industrial sabbatical at one of the Harvard linked hospitals. I found the interns to be quite self-satisfied, snobbish and generally felt superior to the general population. They were very bright and talented.
George, almost all of the MD’s I meet have a range of hubris about them. I finally concluded that the low bar to entry is the problem. Premed is a few introductory classes with no depth. A bit of time with flash cards yields an easy A. I was CHE so took many of same classes.
Then. Having done well in easy classes they apply to med school never having been challenged.
From this seminal experience they feed their sense of superiority.
I think it's the nature of "elite" educational institutions to have, if not feature, pockets of students who take the wrong message from their privilege.
Mike S, the article you posted provides biographical information about Kenneth Chesebro. There is not a whisper in it about Harvard Law School, in no way confirming your attack on that law school. What is your data and evidence concerning the school? Do you think that mentioning three politicians who graduated from Harvard is evidence? What are your sources for characterizing the nature of the school's student body? Are you familiar with the Princeton Review? I don't think your accusations against Harvard Law School stick. If you interested in the the most conservative and liberal law schools in the country, the following will be helpful.
'The Law Schools With The Most Conservative And Liberal Students (2023)'
'Which law schools do you think came out on top of these lists?'
'By STACI ZARETSKY '
'The country has almost never been more divided politically, and whether they’re strongly in favor of President Biden’s policies or adamantly opposed to them and cheering on Trump (or perhaps someone even worse) in 2024, people have been inspired to go to law school as a means to somehow change our country’s future.'
'As our readers know, the latest Princeton Review law school rankings are out, and today, we’ll be focusing on what are perhaps the most important rankings of them all: the law schools with the most conservative students and the law schools with the most liberal students. During these times of political division and strife, why not attend a law school where there’s a high likelihood that your classmates will share your political ideology?
Which law schools do you think came out on top of these lists? (AbovetheLaw) See link below,.'
'Our 2023 Best Law School rankings appear on our website. We report 14 ranking lists, each one naming the top 10 law schools in a particular category.'
'The categories cover topics that we think prospective applicants might want to know or would ask during a campus visit, including academics, career prospects, and campus diversity. Eleven of the 14 lists incorporate or are based entirely on student opinions that we collected through our school student survey. Three lists, "Toughest to Get Into," "Best for Federal Clerkships," and "Best for State and Local Clerkships," are based entirely on institutional data.'
'Note: we don't have a "Best Overall Academics" ranking list nor do we rank the law schools 1 to 168 on a single list because we believe each of the schools offers outstanding academics. We believe that hierarchical ranking lists that focus solely on academics offer very little value to students and only add to the stress of applying to law school.'
Also note: our law school rankings are different from our law school ratings. The rankings are lists. The ratings are numerical scores we give to the 168 schools on our complete list of the Best Law Schools 2022 on a scale of 60 to 99 in various areas. Every law school on PrincetonReview.com has at least one rating, and some have as many as five.' (Princeton Review) See links below.
Mike S, stereotyping, scapegoating, misguiding, lying, bias, etc., are often prejudicial and can lead to inequality, violence and war. We see many examples of it everyday. You are correct that we don't escape or want to erase our opinions. Looking around at our polarization, gun violence, and hatred guide me to be thoughtful, knowledgeable and fair-minded. It takes discipline and thoughtfulness to monitor my communications, which is sometimes difficult to do, but I know the consequences of loose minds, mouths and writing.
Fodder for the indoctrination theorists. Harvard indoctrinating students. Hopeful point: not all students are indoctrinated. My favorite is Pete Buttigieg. I am prejudiced since I campaigned for him, but I think he has it all with very little baggage behind him. Some would consider consider his being gay as a handicap but those who are not homophobic would this a plus.
Erica Jong has a passage in "Fear of Flying"* about the pernicious effect Harvard has on those (men) who are not actualy bona fide geniuses. It's not so much the education, she says, as the warping effects of so much presumed glory: the Yard, the river Charles, [the marquee war-criminal professors], all that stays w the self-satisfied fellow so that he lauds the disgusting food & shabby decor of the Club, where he can expatiate to "some sweet young thing" about, of course, his own excellence.
* I take no credit; this very passage that I paraphrase I hope reasonably well was posted apropos of nothing at all in the alumni group of another -- becomingly self-effacing -- school.
Oh, yes! As I read more and more responses I see that many of us come to ask readers and pundits to explore reasons behind the bad apples. Such a great source you all are!
To be fair, I don't think we can quite blame Harvard per se: my owb school has Justice Keg, for example, among others. And quite or we of these horrors went to *both* schools, and others besides. Nor can we even blame the "sense of entitlement": I was "entitled" (what I called "over-privileged") long before I went, though I was shocked at the shallowness of my fellow students. But even being a overpivileged, I was a child of the Enlightenment, and not at all a fascist -- or at least one outgrew that by age 18.
So what we have, actually, are arrested adolescents, who never learned that they don't actually count. As we also see in the Ayn Rand afficionados: grown men, who might as well be learning Elfish.
think you are talking about the same Harvard where students in large numbers turned out to shame IsraeI for retaliation to the barbarians from Hamas. I think Harvard's track record for producing radical liberal points of view is well documented.
It reminds me of the fossilized mindset that was depicted in The Dead Poets Society. I have a friend who went there and MIT. He said Harvard is very right wing. It explains a lot. He graduated with a PHD from MIT. Some of the best in the world are from MIT.
Thank you for being concerned about our freedoms...I am as well. However, because we are a nation of people who have fought for freedom of the people....freedom to vote as one chooses....we also allow for others who have different views to live in this country with us freedom-loving citizens......even those who would destroy us.
This is one reason to encourage everyone to vote and to work to keep our voting system guarded...ie legal and legitimate.
Freedoms are great...but they work for all views......sometimes freedom can be scary...especially....as we are observing....when dangerous views are controlled and spread by the enemies of freedom.
I have to ask, are you still upset because you didn't get in ? Should we hold Penn responsible for accepting TFG and all of his children? Or Princeton for Ted Cruz? Or Yale for Kavanaugh?
Some of us got an excellent education at Harvard, would you like me to publish a list of the Harvard good grads? ....I question your motives and your hysteria.
A long time ago, I learned that Hahvahd and the other ivies pride themselves in the very low dropout rate! Indeed, this translates to the admissions people won’t admit to making a mistake regarding the fascist wannabe’s who were a mistake! The pse institutions do everything possible to keep the mistakes matriculating!
I was about to ask, should anyone have money to burn? But there is Melinda French Gates putting her half to good use. Still, $999,999,999 should be enough for even the greediest.
My middle school students were in awe of billionaires. I had a hard time getting them to see that someone could not personally spend it on themselves because 24 hours a day would not be enough. It would wind up invested to bring in even more money to have to deal with. None of the kids suggested giving it away.
No, it's nice that Melinda Gates is putting hers to good use. I am not surprised that middle school kids didn't think of giving it away. They are in the throes of a consumer society with all kinds of glittering goodies to buy. I find it disgusting. Our economy would not be very good if it depended on my buying habits. We are just back from the Saturday Market and grocery shopping....both local. I enjoy supporting local farmers and artists. Around our neighborhood, we share a lot of things too, both produce and things we make. We are lucky here that we have rather large urban lots....ours is about a half acre....so plenty of room to garden. I realize that this is not true for a large part of the population who live in food deserts.
My anecdote was from 15 years ago. There are more tech goodies to lust after now. Like you, I don’t spend big. I am lucky to have several luxury Cancer Society charity shops for half my clothes and home decor over the years. Neighbors also share and I give away tomatoes and herbs and succulents. Malls depress me.
I am trying to think of the last time I was in a mall. Maybe 20 or so years ago. I am retired, so can basically live in jeans, tees, and sweatshirts. My weaknesses are book stores and nurseries. I am a big fan of Burlap and Barrel spices because I cook with very little salt. Big box of Christmas books from Powell's arrived today. My husband and I buy each other books for Christmas and then pass them out one by one as we finish reading. I just finished shelling the last of my dry beans while watching Duck football.
As much as I would like to see him locked up and deported, and there is no way I would ever buy a tesla, he has his hooks into our government in too many ways for that to happen. Starlink is foundational to Ukraine’s resistance to putin, SpaceX deploys government satellites and sends people to the space station among many other things. I would like to see him in the basement of Leavenworth with a gag on so that he couldn’t use his wealth to bribe his way out. But we have the rule of law and free speech and as despicable as I find him to be, unless he breaks the law none of that will happen.
Actually, hate speech is free speech. That's why the antisemites on campus and in our cities are allowed to spew forth their genocidal denunciations of the Jews. It's distasteful in the extreme, but freedom of speech and expression is meaningless if it only applies to nice speech.
Progressives used to understand this, but they seem to have forgotten it.
Israel Is About to Make a Terrible Mistake (NYTimes, excerpt)
By Thomas Friedman
‘While the president expressed deep understanding of Israel’s moral and strategic dilemma, he pleaded with Israeli military and political leaders to learn from America’s rush to war after Sept. 11, which took our troops deep into the dead ends and dark alleys of unfamiliar cities and towns in Iraq and Afghanistan.’
‘However, from everything I have gleaned from senior U.S. officials, Biden failed to get Israel to hold back and think through all the implications of an invasion of Gaza for Israel and the United States. So let me put this in as stark and clear language as I can, because the hour is late:
‘I believe that if Israel rushes headlong into Gaza now to destroy Hamas — and does so without expressing a clear commitment to seek a two-state solution with the Palestinian Authority and end Jewish settlements deep in the West Bank — it will be making a grave mistake that will be devastating for Israeli interests and American interests.’
‘It could trigger a global conflagration and explode the entire pro-American alliance structure that the United States has built in the region since Henry Kissinger engineered the end of the Yom Kippur War in 1973.’
‘I am talking about the Camp David peace treaty, the Oslo peace accords, the Abraham Accords and the possible normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The whole thing could go up in flames.’
‘This is not about whether Israel has the right to retaliate against Hamas for the savage barbarism it inflicted on Israeli men, women, babies and grandparents. It surely does. This is about doing it the right way — the way that does not play into the hands of Hamas, Iran and Russia.’
‘If Israel goes into Gaza and takes months to kill or capture every Hamas leader and soldier but does so while expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank — thereby making any two-state solution there with the more moderate Palestinian Authority impossible — there will be no legitimate Palestinian or Arab League or European or U.N. or NATO coalition that will ever be prepared to go into Gaza and take it off Israel’s hands.’ (NYTimes) See gifted link below.
Thanks, Fern. Friedman is right: if Israel's war against Hamas is carried out with the usual lack of worry about Palestinian civilian casualties, the situation will get out of hand. And the support the world has for Israel will evaporate.
Question: Given Israel’s historic lack of concern for “optics” around their colonization and expanding occupation of that general area why would Israel suddenly care what anyone thinks?
With the worlds largest supplier of weapons on Israel’s side
The situation has been out of had for decades due to Israel’s right wing’s penchant for treating helpless civilians the way their parents were treated. It seems to me.
I don't always agree with Tom Friedman. But he has an understanding of this region that exceeds most. And he is absolutely spot on in this article. There is a "deafness" among the current Israeli political leaders. I find it stunning that some of the smartest people on the planet think that they can ignore the impact that this will have on their support and standing in the world. They can't be an island.
Israel had the sympathy and support of the world - including many Arabs and Muslims - after the horrors of the Hamas atrocities. Restraint on their part could have built on that support.
And even if Israel completely levels every building in Gaza, they will not find every member of Hamas. Every rocket that kills civilians is a recruitment ad for more Hamas fighters - kids that might have eschewed Hamas ideology, but will embrace it now.
If I were a Jewish Israeli and my friends had been killed or kidnapped by Hamas, I would be ready to fight. But I would want to do it cleverly - using one of the most sophisticated intelligence agencies in the world. Using the support of the moderate, peace loving majority in Gaza. I would have encouraged Gazans to give up their Hamas enslavers. I would have provided MORE food and water in an effort to embarrass Hamas. "We will treat you with respect and generosity - but you must give up the criminals." This would not satisfy the need for revenge. But with the current sledge hammer wrecking ball approach, Israel will not solve the Hamas problem "once and for all". It will expand support for the terrorists.
And as much as I am a huge supporter of Israel and its need to exist, I also think Palestinians should and could have had a prosperous state of their own right next to Israel. It is decades overdue. The party with the most money and weapons controls the outcome of any difficult situation.
But the Arab population of Palestine, and their supporters in neighboring states, choose not to accept the UN's partition in 1948 and its establishment of the State of Israel, and attempted, unsuccessfully, to fight against both militarily. That is why they do not have a prosperous state of their own next to Israel and find themselves stateless. It was their decision and it is time to stop assigning blame to Israel. And as for Gaza, it's wrong to treat Hamas and Israel as being equally at fault for what is happening there. There would not be a single bomb dropped on Gaza by Israel if it were not the base for continued rocket attacks on Israel, carried out from locations purposefully placed amidst Gaza's civilian population by a group dedicated to the extermination of Israel. The day that stops will be the day Israel's defensive response stops, and both civilian populations will sleep better.
Understanding? Try to understand why in 1948, the Arab population of Palestine, refused to accept both the UN's partition plan, which would have given them a state of their own, something they never before had, and the parallel establishment of the State of Israel. Once that is understood, the actions of Hamas and other terrorist groups since then, and Israel's resulting reaction to them, becomes clearer. Because there is 'plenty of blame to go around,' it does not mean that all are equally 'blamable,' once you understand their motivation and the 'linear' progression of the events for which blame is assigned.
I was not trying to assign equal blame between Israelis and Palestinians. There were others to blame as well. The Palestinians rejected the UN partition plan because it allotted about 55 percent of Palestine to the Jewish state, including most of the fertile coastal region. The 45 percent for Palestinians was not even completely contiguous.
At the time, the Palestinians owned 94 percent of historic Palestine and comprised 67 percent of its population. Granted, the population was small by today’s standards.
When Palestinians rejected the 1947 partician plan, they rejected the opportunity to have what they never had under the Ottoman empire, the Mandate, or ever before, their own independent state. The geographic and demographic numbers indeed favored the proposed State of Israel, but sympathy for those who suffered the loss of six million lives in the Holocaust influenced the UN's decision. The Palestinian rejection of partition was an example of 'biting off one's nose to spite one's face,' or doing something out of anger which resulted in greater harm to themselves.
One more thought: the Oct 7 attack was brilliantly planned and executed. Every detail was considered. Israelis were murdered and captured - I suspect more than had been intended. The Hamas leadership also planned for what would happen on Oct 8. Israeli outrage. World condemnation. Israeli missile strikes. Gazan civilians dead. Electricity and fuel cut off. A reversal of world outrage. It all is happening at the Hamas leadership planned. They are using the unimaginable suffering of the Gazans to further their own ends, always focused on their only goal: the elimination of Israel. And the world continues to follow their plan, with one exception. So far, Israel has not sent groups into Gaza.
I am sure there is a deal whereby Israel's troops will remain on the borders of Gaza, but not move into the place, so long as Hamas shows minimal signs of sanity such as allowing supplies from Egypt to enter via Rafah and freeing a few hostages. I believe Israel has reluctantly agreed to that. But to stop Israeli bombing of Gaza, however, Hamas will have to stop sending off missile attacks. They won't do that though because the Israeli response gives them an argument, however flawed it may be, because their missile launching sites sit amidst civilian populations.
Thank you for this extensive Thom Friedman quote. He is warning Israel not to do exactly what Hamas wants Israel to do: react to its Oct 7 attack in ways that harm Israel’s long range ability to exist... to cause a larger war that would threaten all the positive steps toward peace taken since 1972! If Israel literally turns into a vengeful monster and sparks a wider war, Hamas will have won! I pray Netanyahu sees this ... sees he is playing into Hamas’ hands!
I feel like Netanyahu is in a Kevin McCarthy kind of situation, having to appease people on both/all sides. I do not have much hope for these poor innocent civilians. I am filled with sadness.
Except that Netanyahu is trying to stay out of jail, like Trump, rather than trying to be a half assed king-maker with inadequate skills, like McCarthy. Criminals have different motivations than people who seek power so that everyone will love them.
I saw a report last night that hospitals in Gaza were performing surgeries WITHOUT anesthesia because they had run out. Where is the compassion for human life for those innocent people trapped in Gaza? What Hamas did on 10/7 was inhumane but what is happening in Gaza is also inhumane-no food, no water (drinking toilet water), no medical supplies…. Where is the compassion for life?
Biden failed…! Air Force One hadn’t landed and Tom rushes to judgement! The Israeli equivalent of gym Jordan is the prime minister of Israel! The threat has been made but it is a fool’s wish to obliterate Gaza! For each terrorist leader we kill, dozens are waiting to take their place! War is not the answer!
Louis, you may disagree with Tom Friedman; I have and others that I know strongly disagreed with his support of the Iraq war and on a few other topics. With that, I do not think of him as rushing to judgement.
'Thomas Loren Friedman is an American political commentator and author. He is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner who is a weekly columnist for The New York Times. He has written extensively on foreign affairs, global trade, the Middle East, globalization, and environmental issues.'
'He is the author of seven New York Times bestsellers — From Beirut to Jerusalem, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Longitudes and Attitudes, The World Is Flat, Hot Flat and Crowded, That Used To Be Us (with Michael Mandelbaum) and, most recently, Thank You For Being Late.'
'It was a visit to Israel with his parents during Christmas vacation in 1968–69 that stirred his interest in the Middle East, and it was his high school journalism teacher, Hattie Steinberg, who inspired in him a love of reporting and newspapers.' For more about Tom Friedman, see the link below.
Thanks for posting this, Fern, as I admire Friedman greatly. The US is as guilty of slavery and pushing people into poverty as Israel has been doing to the Palestinians for decades. The time is NOW to change the thinking of men, those so intent to continue to carry out violence. Hamas should be dealt a heavy hand but wait until after we get the hostages freed. Let us not give Israel’s prime minister, Netanyahu cart blanche authority. The Israelis can’t stand him nor the Likud Party because they are so hard-lined. Permitting more settlements in the West Bank is wrong and cruel. Palestinians want to breathe the same air and have the same opportunities that the Israelis have. I hate the fact that we do not see any women in power in any of the Arab nations nor in Israel. It’s unconscionable that they are not at any tables!
Today, Ali Velshi had Dr. Hanan Ashwari on. She was instrumental in negotiating peace talks with Yassar Arafat. Do you remember her? She is now the spokesperson for the Palestine Authority. This interview is excellent and really needs to be seen by everyone.
Fern, thank you for the details you shared....I completely agree. Netanyahu has already shown who he is and what he wants.
He wants to use good faithful US Jews to support his massacre by sending American dollars to Israel which will further involve the US. This will insight our enemies. Cries are all over the news to support Israel....."send us money!!!"
We must respect the freedom of religion...not persecuting people for a different belief or using this to insight starving our fellow human beings or of taking land long assigned to them.
I am so thankful that we have a right to worship as we choose or to honestly not choose a faith if we don't believe....in this country. Freedom is a treasure we do not value enough.
I see the increase in areas of disruption in our world, a tool of our enemies. They know as freedom loving Americans of goodwill and faith we can easily be led to give to religions we support that may be led by their less than faithful, self-serving leaders.
It is a time for great wisdom and intense observation. We must have measured...wise... responses.
"‘I believe that if Israel rushes headlong into Gaza now to destroy Hamas — and does so without expressing a clear commitment to seek a two-state solution with the Palestinian Authority and end Jewish settlements deep in the West Bank — it will be making a grave mistake that will be devastating for Israeli interests and American interests.’"
Another 20 years or more of angry Palestinians. Maybe a different approach would consist of aid minus military weaponry to Israel.
For the first time, I agree with Friedman. An invasion of Gaza could spell disaster for Israel. People are already in the streets in other countries about this. This would be genocide, to go along with the apartheid. Israel already has a long list of UN described crimes that are always vetoed by the US. We could see WW III.
As writer Ted Rall said, Hamas planned their outbreak in detail. A counter attack by Israel would be expected. They would also have planned some choice surprises. Plus, public opinion would swing in their favor. https://rall.com/2023/10/15/israel-should-respond-not-react
For years, I avoided reading Tom Friedman. He seemed so uncritical of Israel and unwilling to see the Palestinian suffering, but whatever happened, he seems wise to me now. Perhaps seeing Netanyahu's corruption alerted him to the dangers of overreach. Perhaps it's the "settlers" on the West Bank. Whatever it is, I'm reading him again with close attention. (Could be confirmation bias, but I'll take that, too.)
The world looks different when people feel the consequences of their actions: Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, Jim Jordan are examples here. The time is coming for Donald Trump. Will it ever come for Benjamin Netanyahu?
Sometimes there are positive consequences. Because the Senate has become something of a bipartisan body an important proposal that comes from Elizabeth Warren and Roger Marshall is possible. Imagine such a thing happening in the House of Representatives.
Have thought a great deal about the hubris behind the actions of Chesebro, Powell and all the rest (Trump especially). They thought they would get away with it all. They thought the justice system would never catch up with them (tad scary, coming from lawyers). In old fashioned terms, what goes around comes around. Much of the world awaits such justice for Trump and his poison. As for Warren and Marshall, amen. Some of our leaders continue on, to get the right stuff done.
They thought it wouldn't catch up with them because if they'd succeeded they would have -become- the justice system. And they nearly did. We're not anywhere near out of the woods yet, but Chesebro and Powell crumbling is wildly good news.
I have always wondered what the coup organizers were thinking as they realized their coup had completely FAILED. I think the lawyers, house reps, and Trump thought they could outrun or out maneuver, like a football receiver, all the way to the goal line,in this case election day Nov 2024. It seems the non-denighers in the House are feeling empowered. What do they know that we don't know?
What I find disgusting are threats to the judges and potential juries AND republicans who refuse to vote for Jordan. trump says he is innocent and doesn't incite his minions to action. Have you ever seen the way he speaks? He should be in jail, but that would make him a martyr and give him a free campaign platform.
I have noticed those who contribute are very educated and pick up on grammar and punctuation. trump is in small letter purposely
No matter the issue, our government, President, Senate, House and SCOTUS, needs to be up and running. At 80 years Biden is up, running and achieving. But the GOP which rules the House of Representatives is unable and unwilling to govern during these perilous times for our country. They should never be given the power to govern again. We are not a Banana Republic. The GOP is a Banana Party.
Yes and the Rs are the party of death at this point. I am glad that those Rs stood up to Gym and all the death threats they have been getting which seem to be the MO of those whose support death star and his acolytes.
Call your Representatives! Give them encouragement and a big thank you if they have come down in support of reason and common sense. Ask them when they will and give them som reasons to do so soon if they have not yet. You voice matters!
I applaud President Biden for his unprecedented involvement to provide humanity and common sense to the interminable Israel/Palestinian imbroglio.
President Carter, at Camp David, initiated an extraordinary breakthrough between Egypt and Israel. President Clinton, at Camp David in 2000, was unable to bring the Israeli prime minister and Palestinian Arafat to any agreement.
In response to Hamas’s brutal savagery, Netanyahu declared war on Gaza, endangering 2,000,000 Palestinians. Biden flew over to seek to minimize this military riposte and avoid the killing of countless individuals, including, possibly, about 200 hostages.
I believe that Netanyahu and his extreme right wingers bear major responsibility for the intolerable situation in Gaza, the West Bank, and with 2nd class Arab citizens in Israel. This created a pressure cooker where explosions were inevitable.
President Biden is the first American president who has intervened with an Israeli prime minister in such a direct and public manner. Whether this will make any significant difference to the trajectory of Israel’s response to this Hamas calumny is uncertain.
From his heart and in pursuit of American strategic interests, President Biden has stepped into a dreadful situation in the hope that he can prevent a massive humanitarian disaster and, perhaps, provide the basis for a somewhat better longer term dynamic between Israel and the Palestinians.
One way the government of Israel can avoid future occurrences of nights like October 7 is to carry out a genocide against Palestinians within the current borders of Israel plus the West Bank and Gaza that is as complete and effective as the one settler colonialists of primarily European heritage carried out against the indigenous population within their borders and expansionist territories in North America in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. I don’t know what fraction of Israelis or of American Jews or of (especially) American Evangelical Christians who dominate religion-based politics in the United States consider such a genocide to be an acceptable way to avoid future events like October 7, but it may be shockingly far from zero. President Biden is trying to find another way. So have most US presidents since 1948. Obviously, none have succeeded. Maybe Biden will if he is given a chance (which requires the US electorate to put Democrats in full control both the executive and legislative branches in 2024). I think Biden has a better chance of leading a humane solution than any other president since 1948. I hope he will be given a chance and will succeed, but I suspect that few, if any, savvy gamblers could be found who would bet on it.
Rex, there’s one big difference between Israel’s prospects for the Palestinians and the genocide inflicted on the native Americans. The native Americans weren’t surrounded by allies who had the power to wreak chaos on the perpetrator, with the potential to become a nuclear war.
Rex, this is an interesting comparison and you are spot on about people who think genocide is a solution. It would have to be total as well because it is something that survivors never forget and it continues to fester for centuries. I hope that Biden is given a chance to do what he can. Thanks for your post.
Yes. I was thinking about that as I watched Ken Burns film about the buffalo. It was almost unbearable to watch the aggression and, yes, desecration carried out by European Americans against the buffalo and indigenous people. And when we "rescued" the bison from extinction, we separated them from the people whose lives had been intertwined with theirs. And let's not forget the treaties we signed with them and then ignored. In all, I found it humbling that we hold ourselves up as the defenders of liberty in the world even as it can be demonstrated (as in our invasion of Afghanistan) that we, too, are subject to human passions and irrationality.
The Burns documentary, good as it is, presents a tiny peek at the atrocities committed by the “builders” of America. You can find a more complete account in Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s well-sourced History of the United States. It takes a lot of stomach to read even a hundred pages of it. Early on she cites a letter from George Washington when he was president to one of his generals in Ohio that, to summarize briefly in modern parlance, explained to the general that in dealing with indigenous people, cruelty was, most definitely, the point. An inference (in my mind at least) from other facts she presents is that an important reason for the 2nd Amendment was that the government did not have enough soldiers to carry out all the “necessary” cruelty against the indigenous population.
I read Dunbar--Ortiz's book when it came out, but having run into a couple of people who couldn't make it through even Part One of the Burns doc (written by Dayton Duncan), I felt the tragedy was carefully and effectively presented. And Part Two was even better, IMO.
Yes, I agree that the Burns documentary was excellent. The Dunbar-Ortiz book was harder for me to get through, but it’s easy to understand that the opposite could be true for many people. Thanks for making that case.
Biden's experience, compassion, and understanding of foreign affairs makes him a positive figure for history to wind itself around in these years, almost a Jimmy Carter lookalike.
The following concerning aid to Gazans and their ability to exit appeared in the Washington Post just minutes ago.
‘Trucks carrying humanitarian aid passed through the Rafah crossing from Egypt toward Gaza on Saturday for the first time since the war began — a breakthrough that signaled much-needed aid was on its way to the besieged enclave. The official Hamas-controlled press agency in Gaza confirmed the first “limited convoy of basic needs” had moved through the crossing, but added that the supplies will not be enough “to change the humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza. The first convoy is expected to include 20 trucks carrying medicines, medical supplies and canned food, the statement said. The trucks waited for days to enter Gaza, which is facing dire straits after Israel imposed a “complete siege,” cutting it off from food, water and fuel. Palestinians told The Washington Post it would be extremely dangerous to distribute the aid without a halting of Israeli airstrikes, which have continued across the Strip, including in areas Israel said were safe zones. The U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs said earlier Saturday the crossing might open. It remained unclear whether people seeking to exit Gaza would be able to pass the other way on Saturday, but the office warned of a “potentially chaotic and disorderly environment” with many people attempting to cross if it does.’ (WAPO)
It should be noted that - because of Israel’s objections - the aid convoy is not carrying fuel desperately needed to power generators in Gaza’s hospitals. And, as Biden noted, one reason for the delay was that the road had to be repaved - although he didn’t point out that this was because Israel had bombed it. The senselessly disproportionate Israeli response to the dreadful Hamas attacks continues.
Very happy that humanitarian aid has finally moved through the crossing. But if Hamas wants to halt the airstrikes it must release all the hostages. While they hold hundreds hostage and continue firing into Israel they have no business complaining about Israel’s air strikes.
One more thought: the Oct 7 attack was brilliantly planned and executed. Every detail was considered. Israelis were murdered and captured - I suspect more than had been intended. The Hamas leadership also planned for what would happen on Oct 8. Israeli outrage. World condemnation. Israeli missile strikes. Gazan civilians dead. Electricity and fuel cut off. A reversal of world outrage. It all is happening at the Hamas leadership planned. They are using the unimaginable suffering of the Gazans to further their own ends, always focused on their only goal: the elimination of Israel. And the world continues to follow their plan, with one exception. So far, Israel has not sent groups
tRUMP always claimed after he left office that America was turning into a banana republic. He may be right (for once) but it's the REPUBLICAN'TS causing it.
It is Trump himself causing it and the fanaticism he unleashed. Why people are drawn to him is beyond my comprehension but at least 1/3 of US voters are and that terrifies me.
Trump lives to break all the rules and get away with it, and mostly his money and fame has let him do so. Thank goodness for the sake of rule of law and justice the courts are going after him. For Trump the fine is just symbolic, but surely this it it on his second, third. fourth, etc. chances?
The judge has warned Trump the fines will escalate. This first one is to see if his current lawyers can rein him in or, as would be sensible, flee the sinking ship.
Any lawyer who wants to keep their law license and reputation needs to watch what is happening in the Georgia Court and make some good decisions based on the past behavior of their client. It seems to me, but, what do I know?
The sense of entitlement that the House Republicans feel as they continue to drag out the selection of a speaker in these times of crisis is unforgivable. The fact that they STILL believe they have the right to decide to keep putting up a parade of self-selected narcissists, apparently at the rate of one a week is beyond absurd. If they in any way believed in the democratic process they would come to the floor, allow anyone to nominate who they will, and then take the vote and see who gets to a majority first. And stay there until there is a Speaker.
Or they could get the job done all at once. There is nothing in the Constitution that says the House can't use rank choice voting, or the Republicans could make it a rule in their conference, or McHenry has the power to just DO IT. People order all of the candidates in terms of their preference, and the candidate with the lowest number of votes gets dropped and their votes given to their second choice candidate. It keeps going until someone gets a majority. You could keep the results secret OR you could publish them after the fact, something I believe would be the right way to do this since governance should be transparent.
By the way, I think all elections in this country should be run by some version of rank choice voting. Just sayin'.
It has worked well, so far in Maine. Jared Golden beat his rivals twice with ranked choice voting. The first time he did he initially came in 2nd but the ranked choice voting put him over the top.
He has done an excellent job for his constituents and the country, but his Independent contenders have been excellent candidates as well. With ranked choice voting the Independent candidates voter 2nd choice put him over 50%.
Thanks for adding the to the discussion with some first hand experience. I've written more about RCV on my substack. I would love it if you could comment there as well on the broader ideas, especially coupling it with an idea to get rid of gerrymandering.
I will look you up. I'm still pretty new to sub stack so thanks for letting me know.
I'll have to consider the gerrymandering angle of RCV.
This is from the wikipedia article on Jared Golden and the 2018 election.
On election night, Golden trailed Poliquin by 2,000 votes. As neither candidate won a majority, Maine's newly implemented ranked-choice voting system called for the votes of independents Tiffany Bond and William Hoar to be redistributed to Poliquin or Golden in accordance with their voters' second choice. The independents' supporters ranked Golden as their second choice by an overwhelming margin, allowing him to defeat Poliquin by 3,000 votes after the final tabulation.[10] He is the first challenger to unseat an incumbent in the district since 1916.[11]
Poliquin opposed the use of ranked-choice voting in the election and claimed to be the winner due to his first-round lead. He filed a lawsuit in federal court to have ranked-choice voting declared unconstitutional and to have himself declared the winner. Judge Lance E. Walker rejected all of Poliquin's arguments and upheld the certified results.[12] Poliquin appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and requested an order to prevent Golden from being certified as the winner, but the request was rejected.[13] On December 24, Poliquin dropped his lawsuit, allowing Golden to take the seat.[14]
That is a hugely important bit of information! That there is a already ruling through the US court of Appeals in the 1st Circuit certifying the legality of using RCV!
No one mentions that there are over half a million displaced Israelis who have had to abandon their homes in the last two weeks to avoid missiles and further terrorist activity. Children are not in school, families are split as reservists have been called up.
Netanyahu will be held accountable for his actions. But in the meantime I have some observations:
Why is it ever questioned why Hamas did not protect Gazans by allowing them to enter the 500km of underground tunnels to seek shelter?
Why is it never mentioned that an estimated 450 terrorist missiles have fallen out of the sky without warning, onto the Gazan people, killing their own people, in the past two weeks - and likely/possibly even before then.
Nor is the question ever asked, why did Hamas not build shelters for their people - instead of tunnels of terror?
Nor does anyone ask about the hypocrisy regarding observance of international law: Israel was founded under international law. - just as the borders of Ukraine were established under international law. For more than 70 years, Israelis have had to fight back again, and again and now again - to hold on to what was given to them under international law. Israel did not attack Egypt, or Syria or Lebanon - Israel was attacked.
Hamas must go - their only reason for existence as is written in their mandate, is to destroy the State of Israel and kill all the inhabitants. How can there ever be peace - or even neighborliness when your neighbor is constantly planning to kill you?
Michelle, agreed! But then there's the issue of Israeli settlers in the West Bank and their apparent sense of impunity when dealing with those whose territory they are settling in.
And they keep on coming. Doesn't International Law forbid such settlement?
Yes. All excellent points. Also why do the pro Palestinian protesters do nothing to provide humanitarian aid to the Palestinians but fund billions for terror attacks. Why won’t they let the Palestinians work or become citizens. The Palestinians along with surrounding Arab countries waged war against Israel and lost. In 1948 and in 1967. They instigated the wars and now claim they were “expelled”. No. They lost a war not once but over and over again. Then all the Arab countries expelled their Jewish populations (who hadn’t started any wars). It seems to me that Hamas has no legitimate claim to anything.
The good news about the speaker debacle is that it slows Biden down on pushing more billions for war with Israel and the proxy war in Ukraine. There never seems to be enough money to spend on war but we can’t afford to spend money on health care, climate change, poverty and all the things that would help people instead of the military industrial complex.
If we don’t help the Ukrainians stop Putin now, when will it seem necessary to you to stop him, after he tries to annex Poland? After he rolls over Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia? Read some history, (as I wish Putin would!) and start calling all the Republicans who still support the viciously useless Jordan, and encourage them to get on board with democracy and stop supporting autocracy. As soon as Biden has majorities in both houses of Congress, he will start working again on those things which are near to his heart as well as yours, but we have to have a working government first. Putin perceived Biden to be weak, and he perceived Zelenskyy to be weak, and thankfully he was wrong. Iran perceived Netanyahu to be compromised, which is true, and Biden to be weak, which is wrong, because Biden is reminding the world to differentiate the Palestinian people, who are citizens of Israel, I think, from Hamas, a terrorist organization with the slogan, “Kill all Jews.” Bibi’s campaign to push all the Palestinians into Egypt has been a well-documented non-starter for millennia. We need leaders with some better ideas. Biden is the model of that leader. Help him out here, could you? Support people who believe in democracy.
If Putin isn’t stopped in Ukraine, he’ll roll into Poland next. People need to remember what happened the last time a fascist dictator invaded Poland. It didn’t end well for anyone.
As far as Netanyahu goes, once this is all over (and it will be, someday) he’s toast. A massive security failure on his government’s watch allowed Hamas to kill 1300 Israelis and capture 200+ hostages—hostages they hadn’t planned on taking back to Gaza. Hamas succeeded beyond its imaginings because Israel simply wasn’t prepared for this.
Netanyahu was too preoccupied with his push to destroy the judicial system to keep himself out of trouble and putting down rebellion among his reservists (who were demonstrating en masse in the streets) that he completely lost focus. Bibi is done. Stick a fork in him.
The only “winners” in this war are the arms merchants and Netanyahu, if only temporarily. Big hug and big money from Biden and now he’s a “wartime leader” instead of a wannabe dictator trying to shut down an independent judiciary.
Good grief. I’ll bet you would support losing 58k Americans again in Vietnam just to prove that the domino theory was valid as political theory. Madness abounds these days.
No, America going into Vietnam to try to finish what France spectacularly failed to do was stupid from day one. This is a totally different sort of stupidity. Why is Hamas considered the leader of the Palestinians? Why is Netanyahu and his coalition of right wing thugs considered the leader of Israel? What can we do to help people vote for individuals who do don’t have bigoted , autocratic impulses to murder everyone who is not like them, into high office? Vietnam was long go and far away except for my friends who still grieve MIA family. Focus on the now. Biden has so far, gotten Hamas to give back a couple hostages, convinced Egypt to allow some humanitarian aid into Gaza through their border, and is encouraging Netanyahu to wait on his all out assault on his own land and people. What exactly do you not approve of, about these current events?
It does nothing to get at the real reason behind the conflict; that being, Zionism.
Just to be clear, my response referencing Vietnam had nothing to do with Israel/Palestine; it was directed at the Russia/Ukraine comments above that Putin had to be stopped before rolling into …. Wherever.
There is no good news about the clown show that is our Congress. Without a working House, the government will shut down in November. And in the meantime, money for aid for Gaza is held up, along with money for aid for Ukraine to fight off the hordes of Putin, and for Israel to eradicate Hamas. We cannot shirk our duty, but Congress (the Republicans) is certainly trying to do just that.
Fortunately, Biden has taken the path of sending money instead of our sons and daughters in Ukraine. Not that there aren't hundreds of US volunteers working with the Ukrainians Army, but Biden didn't send them to die like W, Obama and Trump did in Afghanistan.
The first thing I would do is quit treating Israel like a clueless parent who always defends a delinquent child. One cannot countenance the existence of an open-air prison/concentration camp under any ‘strategic’ circumstance. It’s akin to trying to rationalize slavery. If you haven’t already, I can’t recommend enough watching the link below. We cannot begin to discuss options until we understand history.
The failure of the people who set up the creation of the Israeli state to monitor the situation and ensure that the existing Palestinians and the newly minted Israelis were equally protected by the new state is another astounding failure of diplomacy and common sense. And that failure continues down to this day. It’s like the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s, but with heavy artillery and a lot more 4th cousins once removed who really wish it would just stop, but none of them have enough money to have much of a say. But what exactly would you have our current government do, at this current moment? Also, you do seem to know more about this than most of us. Do you know who the political head of Hamas is? Name, background? Do you know who the head General or Secretary of War or whatever title the Hamas guy who drives the fighting is? I know for sure that when we start talking about individual people instead of headless entities, that helps the quality of the conversation right there. Saying Netanyahu and the current right wing coalition is always better than saying the Israeli government or the Israelis, but we see almost none of that concerning Hamas, the terrorist organization, the current Palestinian Authority, or whatever it is called, and the Palestinian people, although I did see a statement by some official that the aid that came from Egypt was much less than the usual daily amount, which was eye opening in itself.
Simply put, I would make our foreign aid to Israel contingent on its treatment of Palestinians under its purview. We did the same, after far too long, to South Africa, another apartheid state. As to the Hamas questions, all are a quick google click away. The reasons people know Israel politicians, but not those of Hamas, are probably varied, but it’s not an aberration; we pay more attention to ‘authority/oppressor’ names in news. The ‘oppressed/victims’ get lost at times in the process of dehumanizing coverage, if they are on the wrong side of government narrative.
Fwiw, here’s a snapshot reading list/site list that brought me to where I am vis a vis my take on the policy front. The web writers whose analysis I respect most at present are Chris Hedges, Patrick Lawrence, Caitlin Johnstone, and Matt Taibbi.
Reading list and websites
Books: The Shock Doctrine; Democracy, Inc; Death of the Liberal Class; Winner-Take-All Politics; With Liberty and Justice (for some); The New Jim Crow; Dog Whistle Politics; The Looming Tower; Blowback; A Brief History of NeoLiberalism; Merchants of Doubt; Dark Money; Democracy in Chains; Hate Inc.; Tropic of Chaos; Stamped From the Beginning; Goliath; The Fifth Risk.
And in the last couple of years: Wildland; The Division of Light and Power; The Devil’s Chessboard; The Jakarta Method; American Exception; American Reckoning; Sickening; No Politics But Class Politics; The Collapse of Antiquity; Silent Coup.
The two curation sites I get daily email updates from are Scheerpost and Consortium News.
Websites/substack/YouTube channels I frequent are: System Update; The Grayzone, Racket News; Useful Idiots; The Duran; The Lever; Status Coup; RBN; Jimmy Dore; Bad Faith; Unlimited Hangout; Pluralistic; Mark Sleboda; Richard Medhurst; Seymour Hersh.
We should not send either but especially not our sons and daughters! I am so tired of the war mongers and our horrible foreign policy. Both parties are equally at fault there. Why do we never learn?
We have a current defense budget of $816.7 billion. We spent $2.27 trillion in Afghanistan and have less than nothing to show for it. Are you happy with the way we have spent our defense budget money in the past and how we are spending it now?
While the defense contractors get rich are we supposed to let Russia, China, Iran, North Korea invade other countries?
I support Biden's approach of keeping our troops out of harm's way as much as possible. Ukraine and Israel are our allies. We need to support them as we expect them to support us.
And the $105 billion requested is even more problematic in the light of the latest budget deficit. It climbed 23 percent to $1.7 trillion. The question is what are we going to cut to fund the $105 billion?
Stifling. In 2022, the top 50 percent of wage earners paid 97 percent of all federal taxes and the bottom 50 percent 3 percent. The top 1 percent pay over 20 percent of the total. I assume you only want the top of the Eisenhower bracket because in 1959 the lowest bracket was 22 percent vs 10 today.
Oh piffle. The top 50 % paid most of the taxes, compared to the bottom 50% because they made more money to tax. But those in the 85%tile, wage earners making sound $150,000 taxable income, paid 20 to 30 % of their income on taxes, (Say $30,000) in taxes, they really did, and they have $120,000 to live on. The top 5% of earners, making many millions on dollars a year largely from non-taxable passive income, pay, by one estimate I saw in Forbes, 7% of their income in taxes. So, a moderate earner in that tax bracket, say a baseball player with a nice $20,000,000 contract, pays 7% thanks to a good tax lawyer. He pays $140,000,and has $19,860,000 to live on. Even if he doesn’t have a good tax lawyer, and pays $4,000,000 in taxes he still has $16,000,000 to live on. Now do the math on some corporate whiner who say he should get a bigger severance package as his company goes into bankruptcy due to his mismanagement. I think we should do like some of those Asian city states. Everybody pays 15% of everything. No deductions. No exceptions. Robust social safety net for those who have less. If the Amazon guy and the Tesla guy and the Meta guy each paid 15% of what they claim claimed they made kart test to the government, that would be some billions going toward the debt and our safety net right there, let alone this silent billionaires who don’t brag so much.
You are confusing your disdain for high wage earners with the actual math of taxes. If someone is paid 20 million in salary on their w2 they pay 37 percent in federal tax or 7.4 million.
I do not distain high earners. If they pay their taxes I applaud them. I distain high earning tax cheats, and those mentally ill hoarders of money who think that $100 has the same significance to them, who would tip a bartender that much, as it has to someone whose food budget for a month is $100.00.
That is because the wealthiest Americans have not paid their fair share of taxes for decades. All the tax cuts since 1980 benefit the richest people in the country and we now have income inequality that we experienced in the Gilded Age.
A problem we have is lack of context. Americans voluntarily spent $10 billion dollars on Halloween last year, expected to be $12 billion this year. The $77 spent so far on Ukraine was about three percent of the Pentagon total budget. (Personally I think the Pentagon budget is vastly greater than it should be.)
Proxy war? No. Prevention of future US involvement if Putin acts on his announced plans to take the “Baltic provinces” and part of Poland.
We will have to agree to disagree it is totally a proxy war and many experts say it is un-winnable. We have put barriers to a cease fire and negotiations. We have essentially used Ukrainians as cannon fodder in the US/NATO war against Russia. It is a war that never had to happen. Putin is horrible and our foreign policy is not a whole lot better.
Yes, agree to intensely disagree. My main source of info is Timothy Snyder, historian expert on Ukraine and its history. He writes a blog calledThinking About.
Ukrainians could have just surrendered if they wanted to avoid being “cannon fodder.” What countries has NATO ever attacked? Putin wants to restore the former Soviet Union to its size before it broke up.
At risk of being too optimistic…..I’m hoping that Trump’s reign of terror may be diminishing…those 86 secret votes in the House vote on Jordan keeping his ‘designee status’ as Speaker are heartening….actually all three public votes were heartening….and Fani’s three ‘turned’ indicted conspirators also heartening….no trial for the last two and a ‘felony Plea’ this time…one hopes the NEXT plea bargain on that Georgia case may be a major player like Meadows ….and the time for serious ‘bargains’ is running out..that jail a most unappealing location to serve one’s ‘term…
And there are other promising signs….my guess… and that’s all it is…is that when Trump implodes it will be fast…lots of rats departing the ship…..
And hopefully Meadows, Ghouliani, Eastman also end up behind bars.
So many people on Trump's enemy list and so many people he's screwed over that helped him be the Fascist he is, have switched their allegiances or Trump has kicked out of his tent.
We couldn't have a better man as president during these times, than Joe Biden. I've heard that foreign/international affairs are his thing so this is good. He has the right temperament and experience to approach this Middle East Crisis in a logical manner. I have heard that the aid trucks have begun to roll into Gaza. Now we can only pray.
In terms of the 'guilt free dumb caucus', we've dodged a bullet with Jordan's debacle but we're still in danger. I hear them throwing spitballs trying to find ways to blame Democrats for internal repub difficulties. One thing that has stood out is the threats that their constituents have made to others of their own party who aren't voting for the extremists. I really believe that a whole lot of maga people have personal issues and have found a safe haven in the maga cult to manifest behaviors that are frowned upon. Thank you HCR. Hope you're getting some rest.
Yes, a NY judge fined Trump $5,000 for gag-order violations. Trump will probably parlay that to $5M in campaign donations from rubes and boobies. So, instead of being a negative for Trump, it’s a plus. Any fine under several million dollars is a nothing-burger with respect to suppressing future violations of the gag order. What is needed for fairness to other people charged in similar cases and for prevention of gag-order violations is incarceration until the trial is completed.
Hopefully, the fines will continue to get bigger and bigger. If karma prevails TFFG will be fined $250 million or more for the NY fraud case. That's going to take the TFFG criminal empire a while to recoup. Several big donors have already seen the future and they no longer contribute to agent orange.
Now if that judge will add another 0 to the amount of the fine every time Trump violates it again, it would only take a half dozen violations to put Trump in a world of hurt again.
And the aid trucks just started to get through! https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/21/israel-news-hamas-war-gaza-updates/
For anyone who could use a spot of uplift, Jessica is the queen of how to channel feelings of despair into hope--because "hope is an action verb!"
https://chopwoodcarrywaterdailyactions.substack.com/p/chop-wood-carry-water-1020-b4e
Agree wholeheartedly about Jessica and her website. She's a great speaker, too!
And Jessica is inviting to our younger generations with her TikTok videos!
Yes! Thanks to you, I just posted about her TikTok activities to Cynthia.
Can you post them here?
I actually did not post the activities since I am not on TikTok...BUT! Here's one post that she did that speaks directly to what Republicans are trying to do to young people and their ability to vote:
https://www.tiktok.com/@jesscraven101/video/7224257918844128555
❤️
EVERYONE should read this! Crucial! And then participate. CALL!! We need “ALL HANDS ON DECK”!
Then pass it on.
Marlo, I have been somewhat confused by your metaphor "All hands in deck."
Having some nautical inclinations I have assumed you meant all hands ON deck as it would be difficult to sail a ship with all hands IN the deck. On the other hand (😉) as I do not play cards much, might you be referring to some demand in a card game?
That was very clever and funny!
A friendly suggestion: re-tune your snarkometer. :-)
See below about calling McHenry to implement Rank Choice Voting if he really believes in the democratic process. Anyone should be able to nominate who they wish and majority should win.
All hands on dick?
That’s what Rachel Maddow said in Chicago on Thursday night! All hands on deck!
👍Call McHenry first (828) 327-6100 and (202) 225-2576. As Speaker Pro Tempore, it is his one function to see a Speaker is chosen. He can implement Rank Choice Voting.
“If they in any way believed in the democratic process, they would come to the floor, allow anyone to nominate who they will, and then take the vote and see who gets to a majority first. And stay there until there is a Speaker.”
~ Georgia Fisanick Substack.com
I have called both numbers & left messages. I told him America was watching the House Republicans and him, as Speaker Pro Tempore.
He has the ability to implement a fair process that would get the job done. The House Republicans didn’t get their way (or rather Trump’s way) with McCarthy to shutdown the government; this is the next best thing.
So CALL and put pressure on McHenry to implement RCV which would end this fiasco in a day.
Thanks Ellie Kona, that was the uplifting read I needed to start my day!
That’s really kind Ellie. Thank you.
Thanks for the good news, Jessica!
Praises for Abbas....another great leader....encouraging peace and aid for those in extreme need.
This conflict involves other, so called "leaders" who do not mind using the sufferings of their fellow human beings to gain power by creating disruption and by inflicting pain.
Rather than working together for the good of all in this world.... some cruel "leaders" choose to take away food and clean water disrupting the lives of men, women and children to gain personal power.....how sad...when we could simply talk with one another and find ways to work together. We as humans make it so difficult.
Thank you President Joe Biden and TEAM for working towards peace.
Thank you Emily for making this point. I do not think it can be put strongly enough. Barring a completely unforeseen event, President Biden will go down in America’s small pantheon of truly heroic, game-changing Presidents. In the era when the Republic was firmly established, only Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and now Joe Biden have brought light to true darkness.
Lincoln saved the nation in the ultimate deadlock over slavery. Had he served out his two terms and then become a sort of President emeritus, American history might have avoided the blackest moments of Reconstruction and the Jim Crow movement might have gotten a lesser hold. There are no guarantees there, but emancipating the slaves and steering the North to eventual victory are accomplishment enough.
By contrast Roosevelt did not end the Depression. World War II with its massive thirst for armaments and supplies did. However Roosevelt did something more important. He gave hope to a nation stuck in a terrifying morass. He established the modern welfare state, both a practical act and one that illuminated the principles of Christianity that America is so devoted to. He staved off Nazi and Communist attempted mobilizations of the American people. And he deftly led America through all of World War II.
I would personally love to include Lyndon Johnson in this very small pantheon of great leaders. What he accomplished was groundbreaking. But, like America, he got bogged down in Vietnam and that war has tarnished what could have been a sterling legacy.
And now Joe Biden. A month ago we were fretting over his low standing in the polls. Fox and other paragons of the MAGA Malevolence Misfits had been making progress on his supposed senility. There was a serious attempt to tie him to his son’s peregrinations by desperate Republicans. There were even strong rumblings from within the Democratic Party that a younger leader was needed.
After the events of the past two weeks, I hope that some people are feeling suitably abashed. The unthinkable has happened in Israel, an event so barbaric and fraught with the darkness of the human heart, has been influenced greatly, dare I say decisively by the words and actions of America’s President. To the outside world he has supported Israel with a passion that has overwhelmed the people. There has not been an ounce of equivocation. Israelis have reacted strongly, with gratitude and a seed of hope emerging from the blackness of their sorrow.
But I am certain that Biden has cajoled and strong-armed the Israeli leadership. One would have said this was a near impossible task, given the astonishing arrogance of the entrenched far right politicians in that country. There now seems to be a chance that an all out slaughter, borne of blood red rage, an event which would send the Middle East (perhaps the world) into desperate convulsions, may not be as bad as feared. Biden has forced Israel to consider the cost if they obey their worst instincts and this may save the region. It is obviously too early to say how this will turn out. But it looks like there’s a grain of hope.
Lincoln, Roosevelt, elements of Johnson’s Presidency. And now the unexpected hero - a subtle, experience, tough, and loving President.
This is not to say that there have not been other extremely good Presidents. But I can’t think of one who can measure up to the stature of the four I named.
And in the wings, where we can peek at them in bemusement as fancy strikes us, is a party that is failing in a spectacular way. What a foul for Biden.
Unserious people do unserious things. They break the crockery. They come to destroy, not realizing that that is the antithesis of good government. If they stick around long enough, they can do damage. Ultimately they soil themselves and slink off a stage much too big for their meager personalities and intellects.
Go, Joe.
For a foul
FDR instituted many efforts to deal with the depression before Japan changed focus. He had terrific blowback from the start, including but not limited to the Coup of 1933. Give the man his due. LBJ was mislead by McNamara, and his efforts to end the war flumfloxed by Nixon. Repubs have always been on the other side of any efforts at helping the American people. Truman said it best. “Socialism is the epithet Republicans throw at any effort to help all the people. Close enough, and true
Republicans have not "always been on the other side of any efforts at helping the American people"
Perhaps only those of us in our 70s and 80s can remember when that wasn't true, but it hasn't "always" been true.
I’m in my 70s and I agree wholeheartedly. Eisenhower ran a stable administration that did nothing to alter the course of FDR’s progressive measures. (Unfortunately his VP was heavily involved with the Mafia, a predilection that would eventually lead to his downfall).
Generally Republicans governed and acted in opposition with reason and pulled Democrats back to the center. They were a useful opposition - a vital necessity in any democracy. But after 1980 the Republican swerve towards the uncompromising and dark side began taking America down the path that led to Trump. And that story did not end well.
A lot of people/voters, like my family, my husband's family, were Republicans...when it was "respectable".....Not any longer.
We will never vote for a Republican for anything, not even Dog Catcher.
Goes way back though. I had no clue for decades. I’m an oldie, so Ike was my hero.
Ike would be repulsed by today's so-called Republicans.
It's really only since Newt Gingrich that the republican party has become a monolith for destruction.
Thank you for the Truman quote. Yet another medal for the haberdashery man from MO. Wondering for the first time how and why FDR selected him for VP. Was it that he understood who this rather uncharismatic senator was capable of?
I just want to reply to my own comment. It feels monstrously egocentric.
But just two points:
1.
No idea why the phrase “For a foul” sticks it’s irrelevant head up at the bottom. Sorry.
2.
Liz Cheney for Speaker. Yeah, yeah, I know - dream on. But what a marvelous act of demotion it would be for the Republican House to swallow hard and invite her back in.
Has anyone else thought of Michael Steele?
Any Republicans... think?
This "sentence needs to be fixed...I could not figure out anything.
"No idea why the phrase “For a foul” sticks it’s irrelevant head up at the bottom. Sorry."
Speaking as a veteran of the Vietnam War, I would not include LBJ on any list of great presidents. H.R. McMaster's account of how the Johnson Administration pushed America into a long and losing war in Southeast Asia tells the tale: "Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam."
https://www.amazon.com/Dereliction-Duty-Johnson-McNamara-Vietnam/dp/0060929081
The only thing I give LBJ any credit for was the Civil Rights Act. I blame him also for Vietnam as well as McNamara. Wife of Vietnam vet here. Thank you for serving in one of the worst wars ever, Thomas.
A great recommendation.
Eric, as always, your comments are wise and informed. After the constant drumbeat concerning Biden's age and "senility," including Scott Pelley's comments about how tired he looked, I've been buoyed by his stellar public comments and speeches. He is always careful to reiterate to Netanyahu and his authoritarian crew that restraint must be practiced in retaliation for Hamas's atrocities, and differentiating between Palestinians and Hamas, as well as broaching the need for a Palestinian state. I heard a commentator state that Biden is much beloved than is Netanyahu by the Israelis and polls much higher there than Netanyahu.
I truly hope that our crockery-breakers are eventually going to lose their noxious grip on our own country and we can once again attempt our quest to become a beacon for the good in this world, despite our frequent missteps, and in doing so perhaps Biden will rightfully regarded among our best statesmen.
In the beginning of your comments, you include Theodore Roosevelt. While Teddy's legacy included many laudable achievements, didn't you mean to say Franklin Roosevelt? His shortcomings of bowing to this country's antisemitism (which sadly still exists) and not rescuing more Jews during WWII do not overshadow his many achievements, which you so aptly pointed out.
The "entrenched far right politicians" currently in Netanyahu's coalition are despised and opposed by the majority of Israelis (my family there and Israeli friends included). A reckoning will come with this coalition when Israel is out of the dangers of the present horrible situation. For now, the sane and decent military leadership, as well as the folks who led the protests against Netanyahu's extremists, have turned on a dime to unite - volunteering in a myriad of ways to help their countrymen survive, to overcome the trauma that occurred on October 7, and insure it never happens again.
Meanwhile, I ask that, along with the strongarming by the US of Israel's leaders determined to destroy Hamas in Gaza, Egypt also be strongarmed, indeed shamed, into allowing a humanitarian escape route to get helpless Gazans out of the way, something Egypt has refused to do so far. Hamas has made Gazan's lives a living hell for many years and cares even less about what happens to them now in Israel's attempts to destroy these terrorists. In truth, Gazans need liberating from Hamas, much more than from Israel. If you don't believe me, I encourage you to read interviews done secretly, early in 2023, with Gazans - look for What's Life Like Under Hamas - whispered in Gaza". Egypt has plenty of space to set up temporary shelter for people wanting to escape, allowing Israel to do the job Egypt surely appreciates (Hamas = Moslem Brotherhood; put down already in Egypt), but dare not admit publicly, to avoid angering the "Arab street". Surely other nations would contribute to the cost of temporarily sheltering these people and rebuilding Gaza eventually. Money is already pouring in to help Gazans, but who knows if it won't land in the hands of Hamas?
If Egypt (and other Arab countries) truly support the Palestinian cause, it's time they show it by calling out Hamas and their ilk for the fanatical and violent leaders who are in the way of their ever being a Palestinian state next to Israel. Israel does not want to stay in Gaza; they just want peace on their borders, as they sought in 2005, when they left Gaza under Palestinian control. If not for the violent belligerence that persists with groups like Hamas, there would have been a Palestinian state begun years ago, a result of one of the many attempts Israel has made to achieve compromise. I know Israelis would still accept such. They can deal with their own extremists when the time comes - as they did in leaving Gaza - when Palestinians demonstrate they can be peaceful neighbors.
Thank you Laura. From what I read, truthful or not, both Egypt and Israel were arguing over how to inspect the trucks hauling the humanitarian aid from bringing in weapons for Hamas. That has been settled and the aid trucks are on their way. I just hope there is security for the truck convoy to prevent Hamas from stealing the aid and selling it for weapons, as has happened in the past. It is time for the Arabic world to disown these terrorists and protect the ordinary citizens. It is beyond obscenity that the Palestinians and others of Muslim religion should be forced to live in squalid poverty so their leaders can live the lives of elitists and their insane Jihadists can have all the weapons their ugly hearts desire. The Palestinians are humans, just like us and the Israelis. Get rid of those cruel Jihadists and there might be a chance for the real people to live peaceful and more prosperous lives. What happened 2 to 5 thousand years ago is done and gone. No matter what they promise, the trump's, de santis', jihadists cannot bring it back. Personally I'm glad of that fact.
Excellent, thank you. But I think you may want to edit the beginning of your comment to write FDR and not Theodore.
I doubt that the women of Afghanistan would agree with you on the world-historical wonderfulness of Joe Biden, who left them them to the custody of the Taliban because he wanted kudos for “ending a war.” For that matter, I doubt that the families of the thirteen military members who got killed during Joe’s Afghanistan skedaddle would agree with you either.
It’s a fair point Thomas. My feelings on that are mixed. It was far past time for that war to end. The planning was, to be charitable, faulty to be sure. But Afghanistan has for centuries been intractable. On balance I think Biden made the correct decision. His intelligence reports on the strength and proximity of the Taliban were poor. Perhaps he could have waited longer to firm up matters. But on balance I do not think ending a 20 year war without some measure of cocking up could be expected.
Has that event entirely colored your assessment of Biden?
The United States was no longer fighting that war; there were fewer than 2,000 US ground troops in the country when Biden made his stupid decision simply to abandon Afghanistan. Not only did he pull the troops out, he halted all aid and logistical support to the Afghan armed forces. Then, when the predictable disaster occurred, he had the nerve to call it “the greatest airlift in history.”
It’s no coincidence that after that debacle, which remains a stain on this country’s honor, V. Putin decided to go ahead and invade Ukraine. And things just keep getting worse—thanks in large part to our president’s incompetence and poltroonery.
So yes, abandonment of Afghanistan does indeed color my assessment of Joe Biden.
I’m still not sold. First of all the war had gone on for a ridiculous length of time. It was pointless to prolong the agony any longer. Secondly America was still pouring oceans of money into Afghanistan. I remember reading that the US was supporting a “plywood army”. There was no future in continuing to do so and there was indeed a high cost. The Afghan Army was plagued by desertions. Frequently they weren’t getting paid. The US would have needed a surge in some sort to back the Army to keep out the Taliban. Who would have had stomach in America for a greater effort? The withdrawal was mishandled. American intelligence on the speed at which the Taliban would move was terrible. That’s certainly a “buck stops here” failure for the President to wear.
As for drawing a connection between Russia-Ukraine and the exit from Afghanistan, if Putin expected a weak response from the US. he got a rude shock. In a nuclear-armed world, Biden has gone up to the edge of what is possible in standing up to Russia. Given Russia’s abysmal invasion of Afghanistan, Putin in particular should have realized that the American withdrawal there was not exactly without precedent.
One last point - it’s been years since I last read or heard “poltroonery”. That made my day. :)
One of the points that was so important for President Biden to make in his personal meeting was that Israel should not make the same mistake as the U.S. did after the 9/11 attack. He was meeting Netanyahu on common ground of having been attacked. We reacted very wrongly. President Biden asked/urged/cajoled Netanyahu to act with restraint despite the horror and the grief.
You mean Franklin, not Theodore, Roosevelt. Theodore did some good stuff, too.
Thank you so much. Brain cramp (unless this article had featured national parks creation. :)
Much appreciated.
Eric, you CAN edit your comments here, you know. Just look for the little ellipsis (3 dots) at the bottom right margin under your comment. Click on that and you'll see 2 possibilities, Edit or Delete. If you click on "Edit", your comment will be posted in a form so that you, and only you, can change, edit, add, delete phrases, whatever. When done, hit "Save" and voila it will reappear corrected! It's a handy feature so at least we can change things and not seem the victims of too many "brain cramps"!
The three dots to enter the edit screen works only on your own comments. If you click them on others', it will bring up the "Report" option.
Works best in "browser" setting
Yes! And the next best news of the day is that a judge finally threatened Trump with jail if he didn’t shut up and stop threatening everyone.
Sone Michigan news from Anna Liz Nichols at Michigan Advance.
One (1) of the 15 Michigan Fake Electors, JAMES RENNER, has entered a Plea Agreement with the MIchigan AG. Details of Plea Ahrrement have not be nreported.
State evidence is admissible in Federal actions and in the GA RICO case.
Ann also reports a 2nd Fake Electors is being medically examined for mental capacity.
Thanks for good info. Please keep it coming. We all know someone who knows someone who is related to this in one way or another. Everyone in the state needs to learn the details-who was recruited? Who did the recruiting? Clearly the penalties for those who did the recruiting should be far more stringent than the penalties for those who cooperated, barring the one or ones who prove mentally incompetent, of corse.
That was a beautiful summary Useful '.
Thanks, I think. Sorry for the typos.
No problem. I have to be careful on 'replys'as one cannot use the Edit Tool. Still very useful.
Yay, Michigan, Blue and Green!!
Elon Musk , by allowing conspiracy theories and misinformation to exist on X, is a TERRORIST. Hate speech is not free speech and is not covered by the Constitution.
LOCK HIM UP - BOYCOTT TESLA!!!!!
And refer to it as Twitter (X). This "X" increasingly gives me the irrits.
I know a fellow who refers to it as "Xitter," pronouncing the "X" as an "sh."
LOL. RefJim. First smile of the am.
Agreed. Because that's where the bird has gone. Into the xitter.
LOL.
🤣👏🏼👏🏼
Writer Jay Kuo has his weekend feature called "Just for Xeets & Giggles" where he looks at the past week in humorous tweets and memes. Today's:
https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/just-for-xeets-and-giggles-102123
🤣🤣
“Irrits”is a good way to describe being on the site formerly known as Twitter.Musk has ruined this site.It used to be one of my favorites to get a variety of information but sadly, no more.It is a worthless hate-fest that I no longer use.
Mine too. I hate how he ruined it.
He deadnames his own child, so I don't mind deadnaming x and continuing to call it Twitter
It hits me the same way "Democrat Party" does!
A MAGAt slur, I.e. the book on NYT best seller list “The democrat Party Hates America.”
My guess is he is as vain and nacisstic as his hero, Donnie, and therefore couldn't bear to give it a name thought up by someone else when he (supposedly) had paid so much for it but he probably pays like his hero - not at all. He wanted Twix but that was taken.
Yeh! His special genius has square-cut boundaries. "Twitter" was so innocent and stupid, it was fun. I remember Elizabeth Taylor giggling away in her hospital bed because she could "tweet". I don't think an "X" would have held a promise of smiles or comfort to her closing days.
Here is another Harvard trained fascist lawyer we should lock up. Gift link to NY Times. Seems Harvard produces fascist guys on a routine basis. Matt Gaetz comes to mind as well. Also. Ron DeSantis. Ted Cruz too.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/21/us/politics/chesebro-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4Uw.vUKf.Gyei3pMxujvN&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
I wonder what it is about Harvard that produces guys who feel unencumbered by laws and rules?
Or? Do we empower that mindset in some way by overhyping Harvard as an educational facility when it is just an indoctrination facility?
Yes. I know Prof Richardson went there too but I bet she did not “fit in” to the typical Harvard student profile like, for example, Kavanaugh did.
Years ago I was a senior editor at the Harvard Business Review. At one point I put up a series of blogs attempting to get at the issue of ethics in business and whether business schools had a hand in the financial meltdown of 2008. The answer, from the Big Thinkers (including a lot of Harvard Business School professors) was a tepid yes. But only a few schools were doing anything about it.
Bronwyn, Congrats on being an editor with a conscience!
Thanks, but the place wore me down. After almost 10 years there, I quit in 2009.
Boston would wear me down. I have rarely experienced so many people crowded into so little space.
unless it's Gaza. : <
Money talks! Rogue capitalists become ‘patrons’ by endowing tens or hundreds of millions of their greed money to those places! Can you say Sackler’s?!
I tend to doubt that it is Harvard's professors (call me naive) who are indoctrinating their students. I think that because of different reasons and backgrounds, such as the legacy admissions (and parental expectations) and the reality that many people who go to Harvard come from well-to-do (wealthy or just plain incredibly rich) family backgrounds, they spend their time there trying to gain additional ideas, information, and strategies for staying rich, for living up to their parents' expectations, for maintaining a family image of what success is, and getting rich or richer themselves.
Also, there are many students who try to get admitted and matriculate there because of the reputation and connections. An edge, you might say. I think their values were already created from their earlier years and their families. Many are not geared or destined to be corrupt and soulless. Most of the people named and used as examples here are insecure people trying to get respect. Many have Daddy issues. Many already have an "I'll show you!" attitude when they arrive there. Some professors may "feed" that need, but for me, having studied families, ethics tend to start forming early in our lives. I've come to believe that the "hands off the family" approach to supporting parents and their children is not the way to go. And if any of you consider that there were times in your own lives you ardently wished someone would save you from your family ...
G.W. Bush: Harvard MBA 1975
Background. Proven.
Makes sense to me at least
I believe that a tenet of modern capitalist business practice is that businesses are beholden to their shareholders above all else, not to society, ethics, public good, or anything else. Presumably Harvard and other business schools teach this. I'm not an economist or business expert, so if anyone can correct me or add nuance on this, please do.
that was basically what most people told me. And explains why we're so screwed.
Years ago, I had the privilege of an industrial sabbatical at one of the Harvard linked hospitals. I found the interns to be quite self-satisfied, snobbish and generally felt superior to the general population. They were very bright and talented.
George, almost all of the MD’s I meet have a range of hubris about them. I finally concluded that the low bar to entry is the problem. Premed is a few introductory classes with no depth. A bit of time with flash cards yields an easy A. I was CHE so took many of same classes.
Then. Having done well in easy classes they apply to med school never having been challenged.
From this seminal experience they feed their sense of superiority.
Bronwyn, when you were at Harvard, did you notice that the Heritage Foundation had a large presence there?
I didn't, but Mormons were all over the biz school. Have been for years.
I think it's the nature of "elite" educational institutions to have, if not feature, pockets of students who take the wrong message from their privilege.
You nailed it.
Accurate, but we have to wonder if it's accelerated along with late stage capitalism.
Mike S, the article you posted provides biographical information about Kenneth Chesebro. There is not a whisper in it about Harvard Law School, in no way confirming your attack on that law school. What is your data and evidence concerning the school? Do you think that mentioning three politicians who graduated from Harvard is evidence? What are your sources for characterizing the nature of the school's student body? Are you familiar with the Princeton Review? I don't think your accusations against Harvard Law School stick. If you interested in the the most conservative and liberal law schools in the country, the following will be helpful.
'The Law Schools With The Most Conservative And Liberal Students (2023)'
'Which law schools do you think came out on top of these lists?'
'By STACI ZARETSKY '
'The country has almost never been more divided politically, and whether they’re strongly in favor of President Biden’s policies or adamantly opposed to them and cheering on Trump (or perhaps someone even worse) in 2024, people have been inspired to go to law school as a means to somehow change our country’s future.'
'As our readers know, the latest Princeton Review law school rankings are out, and today, we’ll be focusing on what are perhaps the most important rankings of them all: the law schools with the most conservative students and the law schools with the most liberal students. During these times of political division and strife, why not attend a law school where there’s a high likelihood that your classmates will share your political ideology?
Which law schools do you think came out on top of these lists? (AbovetheLaw) See link below,.'
https://abovethelaw.com/2023/02/the-law-schools-with-the-most-conservative-and-liberal-students-2023/
'Princeton Review'
'Our Law School Rankings Methodology'
'Our 2023 Best Law School rankings appear on our website. We report 14 ranking lists, each one naming the top 10 law schools in a particular category.'
'The categories cover topics that we think prospective applicants might want to know or would ask during a campus visit, including academics, career prospects, and campus diversity. Eleven of the 14 lists incorporate or are based entirely on student opinions that we collected through our school student survey. Three lists, "Toughest to Get Into," "Best for Federal Clerkships," and "Best for State and Local Clerkships," are based entirely on institutional data.'
'Note: we don't have a "Best Overall Academics" ranking list nor do we rank the law schools 1 to 168 on a single list because we believe each of the schools offers outstanding academics. We believe that hierarchical ranking lists that focus solely on academics offer very little value to students and only add to the stress of applying to law school.'
Also note: our law school rankings are different from our law school ratings. The rankings are lists. The ratings are numerical scores we give to the 168 schools on our complete list of the Best Law Schools 2022 on a scale of 60 to 99 in various areas. Every law school on PrincetonReview.com has at least one rating, and some have as many as five.' (Princeton Review) See links below.
https://www.princetonreview.com/law-school-rankings?rankings=most-conservative-students
https://www.princetonreview.com/law-school-rankings?rankings=most-liberal-students
Fern. I am ok with your favorable view of Harvard. That is the beauty of diversity of thought.
My own take is that Harvard sometimes appears to be no bastion of liberal thought.
Quite the opposite.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/18/us/harvard-students-israel-hamas-doxxing.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4Uw.GX8e.xSxZv1nZ8Aus&smid=url-share
I gave no view of Harvard but one of your judgement, which lacked evidence, and I see that
you continue to grab anything even when it does not substantiate your claims. My review was of your unproven attacks.
Yikes! Just an opinion Fern. Opinions are ok to share as far as I know.
This board is not the Journal of Fluid Mechanics.
Just a place to share (different) perspectives.
I am ok with yours and wish you the best of the day.
Mike S, stereotyping, scapegoating, misguiding, lying, bias, etc., are often prejudicial and can lead to inequality, violence and war. We see many examples of it everyday. You are correct that we don't escape or want to erase our opinions. Looking around at our polarization, gun violence, and hatred guide me to be thoughtful, knowledgeable and fair-minded. It takes discipline and thoughtfulness to monitor my communications, which is sometimes difficult to do, but I know the consequences of loose minds, mouths and writing.
👎
He went to Northwestern and Harvard. The article did not give the lengths of study at these Universities
Fodder for the indoctrination theorists. Harvard indoctrinating students. Hopeful point: not all students are indoctrinated. My favorite is Pete Buttigieg. I am prejudiced since I campaigned for him, but I think he has it all with very little baggage behind him. Some would consider consider his being gay as a handicap but those who are not homophobic would this a plus.
Erica Jong has a passage in "Fear of Flying"* about the pernicious effect Harvard has on those (men) who are not actualy bona fide geniuses. It's not so much the education, she says, as the warping effects of so much presumed glory: the Yard, the river Charles, [the marquee war-criminal professors], all that stays w the self-satisfied fellow so that he lauds the disgusting food & shabby decor of the Club, where he can expatiate to "some sweet young thing" about, of course, his own excellence.
* I take no credit; this very passage that I paraphrase I hope reasonably well was posted apropos of nothing at all in the alumni group of another -- becomingly self-effacing -- school.
Oh, yes! As I read more and more responses I see that many of us come to ask readers and pundits to explore reasons behind the bad apples. Such a great source you all are!
It’s all about a sense of entitlement...
To be fair, I don't think we can quite blame Harvard per se: my owb school has Justice Keg, for example, among others. And quite or we of these horrors went to *both* schools, and others besides. Nor can we even blame the "sense of entitlement": I was "entitled" (what I called "over-privileged") long before I went, though I was shocked at the shallowness of my fellow students. But even being a overpivileged, I was a child of the Enlightenment, and not at all a fascist -- or at least one outgrew that by age 18.
So what we have, actually, are arrested adolescents, who never learned that they don't actually count. As we also see in the Ayn Rand afficionados: grown men, who might as well be learning Elfish.
Many Harvard students/alumni are not like these guys. Plus, Gaetz did not go to Harvard.
think you are talking about the same Harvard where students in large numbers turned out to shame IsraeI for retaliation to the barbarians from Hamas. I think Harvard's track record for producing radical liberal points of view is well documented.
Right. And far right groups have subsequently posted their names and Wall Street Employers have promised not to hire them.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/18/us/harvard-students-israel-hamas-doxxing.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4Uw.GX8e.xSxZv1nZ8Aus&smid=url-share
Maybe Harvard has too many legacy students. Would explain a lot.
It reminds me of the fossilized mindset that was depicted in The Dead Poets Society. I have a friend who went there and MIT. He said Harvard is very right wing. It explains a lot. He graduated with a PHD from MIT. Some of the best in the world are from MIT.
Mike S.
Thank you for being concerned about our freedoms...I am as well. However, because we are a nation of people who have fought for freedom of the people....freedom to vote as one chooses....we also allow for others who have different views to live in this country with us freedom-loving citizens......even those who would destroy us.
This is one reason to encourage everyone to vote and to work to keep our voting system guarded...ie legal and legitimate.
Freedoms are great...but they work for all views......sometimes freedom can be scary...especially....as we are observing....when dangerous views are controlled and spread by the enemies of freedom.
Harvard Law gave up requiring ethics courses years ago ((? 1960’s).
I have to ask, are you still upset because you didn't get in ? Should we hold Penn responsible for accepting TFG and all of his children? Or Princeton for Ted Cruz? Or Yale for Kavanaugh?
Some of us got an excellent education at Harvard, would you like me to publish a list of the Harvard good grads? ....I question your motives and your hysteria.
Mike S - thanks for gifting the link!
A long time ago, I learned that Hahvahd and the other ivies pride themselves in the very low dropout rate! Indeed, this translates to the admissions people won’t admit to making a mistake regarding the fascist wannabe’s who were a mistake! The pse institutions do everything possible to keep the mistakes matriculating!
Musk has inserted himself into international politics in nefarious ways. He is the example of why some people should never have money to burn.
I was about to ask, should anyone have money to burn? But there is Melinda French Gates putting her half to good use. Still, $999,999,999 should be enough for even the greediest.
My middle school students were in awe of billionaires. I had a hard time getting them to see that someone could not personally spend it on themselves because 24 hours a day would not be enough. It would wind up invested to bring in even more money to have to deal with. None of the kids suggested giving it away.
No, it's nice that Melinda Gates is putting hers to good use. I am not surprised that middle school kids didn't think of giving it away. They are in the throes of a consumer society with all kinds of glittering goodies to buy. I find it disgusting. Our economy would not be very good if it depended on my buying habits. We are just back from the Saturday Market and grocery shopping....both local. I enjoy supporting local farmers and artists. Around our neighborhood, we share a lot of things too, both produce and things we make. We are lucky here that we have rather large urban lots....ours is about a half acre....so plenty of room to garden. I realize that this is not true for a large part of the population who live in food deserts.
My anecdote was from 15 years ago. There are more tech goodies to lust after now. Like you, I don’t spend big. I am lucky to have several luxury Cancer Society charity shops for half my clothes and home decor over the years. Neighbors also share and I give away tomatoes and herbs and succulents. Malls depress me.
I am trying to think of the last time I was in a mall. Maybe 20 or so years ago. I am retired, so can basically live in jeans, tees, and sweatshirts. My weaknesses are book stores and nurseries. I am a big fan of Burlap and Barrel spices because I cook with very little salt. Big box of Christmas books from Powell's arrived today. My husband and I buy each other books for Christmas and then pass them out one by one as we finish reading. I just finished shelling the last of my dry beans while watching Duck football.
You are probably not the only 'originalist' among us, William Whitman.
As much as I would like to see him locked up and deported, and there is no way I would ever buy a tesla, he has his hooks into our government in too many ways for that to happen. Starlink is foundational to Ukraine’s resistance to putin, SpaceX deploys government satellites and sends people to the space station among many other things. I would like to see him in the basement of Leavenworth with a gag on so that he couldn’t use his wealth to bribe his way out. But we have the rule of law and free speech and as despicable as I find him to be, unless he breaks the law none of that will happen.
Actually, hate speech is free speech. That's why the antisemites on campus and in our cities are allowed to spew forth their genocidal denunciations of the Jews. It's distasteful in the extreme, but freedom of speech and expression is meaningless if it only applies to nice speech.
Progressives used to understand this, but they seem to have forgotten it.
Boycott X, that would hurt Musk more than Tesla, he lost interest in that toy.
And his space program! Make your own rockets, and communication satellites. Musk is almost a good guy, just not a complete guy.
Israel Is About to Make a Terrible Mistake (NYTimes, excerpt)
By Thomas Friedman
‘While the president expressed deep understanding of Israel’s moral and strategic dilemma, he pleaded with Israeli military and political leaders to learn from America’s rush to war after Sept. 11, which took our troops deep into the dead ends and dark alleys of unfamiliar cities and towns in Iraq and Afghanistan.’
‘However, from everything I have gleaned from senior U.S. officials, Biden failed to get Israel to hold back and think through all the implications of an invasion of Gaza for Israel and the United States. So let me put this in as stark and clear language as I can, because the hour is late:
‘I believe that if Israel rushes headlong into Gaza now to destroy Hamas — and does so without expressing a clear commitment to seek a two-state solution with the Palestinian Authority and end Jewish settlements deep in the West Bank — it will be making a grave mistake that will be devastating for Israeli interests and American interests.’
‘It could trigger a global conflagration and explode the entire pro-American alliance structure that the United States has built in the region since Henry Kissinger engineered the end of the Yom Kippur War in 1973.’
‘I am talking about the Camp David peace treaty, the Oslo peace accords, the Abraham Accords and the possible normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The whole thing could go up in flames.’
‘This is not about whether Israel has the right to retaliate against Hamas for the savage barbarism it inflicted on Israeli men, women, babies and grandparents. It surely does. This is about doing it the right way — the way that does not play into the hands of Hamas, Iran and Russia.’
‘If Israel goes into Gaza and takes months to kill or capture every Hamas leader and soldier but does so while expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank — thereby making any two-state solution there with the more moderate Palestinian Authority impossible — there will be no legitimate Palestinian or Arab League or European or U.N. or NATO coalition that will ever be prepared to go into Gaza and take it off Israel’s hands.’ (NYTimes) See gifted link below.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/19/opinion/biden-speech-israel-gaza.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4Uw.hU07.gSK1v9kjBA6h&smid=url-share
Thanks, Fern. Friedman is right: if Israel's war against Hamas is carried out with the usual lack of worry about Palestinian civilian casualties, the situation will get out of hand. And the support the world has for Israel will evaporate.
James, I think that ship has sailed.
Netanyahu, like any tyrant, needs a war, upheaval, in order to remain in power, as he sees it. He betrayed his tribe long ago.
Question: Given Israel’s historic lack of concern for “optics” around their colonization and expanding occupation of that general area why would Israel suddenly care what anyone thinks?
With the worlds largest supplier of weapons on Israel’s side
“What? Me worry?
I am not so sure that despite Biden's commitment to support Israel, he would give Bibi carte blanche. Nevertheless, I worry too.
The situation has been out of had for decades due to Israel’s right wing’s penchant for treating helpless civilians the way their parents were treated. It seems to me.
I don't always agree with Tom Friedman. But he has an understanding of this region that exceeds most. And he is absolutely spot on in this article. There is a "deafness" among the current Israeli political leaders. I find it stunning that some of the smartest people on the planet think that they can ignore the impact that this will have on their support and standing in the world. They can't be an island.
Israel had the sympathy and support of the world - including many Arabs and Muslims - after the horrors of the Hamas atrocities. Restraint on their part could have built on that support.
And even if Israel completely levels every building in Gaza, they will not find every member of Hamas. Every rocket that kills civilians is a recruitment ad for more Hamas fighters - kids that might have eschewed Hamas ideology, but will embrace it now.
If I were a Jewish Israeli and my friends had been killed or kidnapped by Hamas, I would be ready to fight. But I would want to do it cleverly - using one of the most sophisticated intelligence agencies in the world. Using the support of the moderate, peace loving majority in Gaza. I would have encouraged Gazans to give up their Hamas enslavers. I would have provided MORE food and water in an effort to embarrass Hamas. "We will treat you with respect and generosity - but you must give up the criminals." This would not satisfy the need for revenge. But with the current sledge hammer wrecking ball approach, Israel will not solve the Hamas problem "once and for all". It will expand support for the terrorists.
And as much as I am a huge supporter of Israel and its need to exist, I also think Palestinians should and could have had a prosperous state of their own right next to Israel. It is decades overdue. The party with the most money and weapons controls the outcome of any difficult situation.
But the Arab population of Palestine, and their supporters in neighboring states, choose not to accept the UN's partition in 1948 and its establishment of the State of Israel, and attempted, unsuccessfully, to fight against both militarily. That is why they do not have a prosperous state of their own next to Israel and find themselves stateless. It was their decision and it is time to stop assigning blame to Israel. And as for Gaza, it's wrong to treat Hamas and Israel as being equally at fault for what is happening there. There would not be a single bomb dropped on Gaza by Israel if it were not the base for continued rocket attacks on Israel, carried out from locations purposefully placed amidst Gaza's civilian population by a group dedicated to the extermination of Israel. The day that stops will be the day Israel's defensive response stops, and both civilian populations will sleep better.
Plenty of blame to go around. Understanding might be more productive than blaming.
Understanding? Try to understand why in 1948, the Arab population of Palestine, refused to accept both the UN's partition plan, which would have given them a state of their own, something they never before had, and the parallel establishment of the State of Israel. Once that is understood, the actions of Hamas and other terrorist groups since then, and Israel's resulting reaction to them, becomes clearer. Because there is 'plenty of blame to go around,' it does not mean that all are equally 'blamable,' once you understand their motivation and the 'linear' progression of the events for which blame is assigned.
I was not trying to assign equal blame between Israelis and Palestinians. There were others to blame as well. The Palestinians rejected the UN partition plan because it allotted about 55 percent of Palestine to the Jewish state, including most of the fertile coastal region. The 45 percent for Palestinians was not even completely contiguous.
At the time, the Palestinians owned 94 percent of historic Palestine and comprised 67 percent of its population. Granted, the population was small by today’s standards.
When Palestinians rejected the 1947 partician plan, they rejected the opportunity to have what they never had under the Ottoman empire, the Mandate, or ever before, their own independent state. The geographic and demographic numbers indeed favored the proposed State of Israel, but sympathy for those who suffered the loss of six million lives in the Holocaust influenced the UN's decision. The Palestinian rejection of partition was an example of 'biting off one's nose to spite one's face,' or doing something out of anger which resulted in greater harm to themselves.
One more thought: the Oct 7 attack was brilliantly planned and executed. Every detail was considered. Israelis were murdered and captured - I suspect more than had been intended. The Hamas leadership also planned for what would happen on Oct 8. Israeli outrage. World condemnation. Israeli missile strikes. Gazan civilians dead. Electricity and fuel cut off. A reversal of world outrage. It all is happening at the Hamas leadership planned. They are using the unimaginable suffering of the Gazans to further their own ends, always focused on their only goal: the elimination of Israel. And the world continues to follow their plan, with one exception. So far, Israel has not sent groups into Gaza.
I am sure there is a deal whereby Israel's troops will remain on the borders of Gaza, but not move into the place, so long as Hamas shows minimal signs of sanity such as allowing supplies from Egypt to enter via Rafah and freeing a few hostages. I believe Israel has reluctantly agreed to that. But to stop Israeli bombing of Gaza, however, Hamas will have to stop sending off missile attacks. They won't do that though because the Israeli response gives them an argument, however flawed it may be, because their missile launching sites sit amidst civilian populations.
Very well stated all around Bill.
Thank you for this extensive Thom Friedman quote. He is warning Israel not to do exactly what Hamas wants Israel to do: react to its Oct 7 attack in ways that harm Israel’s long range ability to exist... to cause a larger war that would threaten all the positive steps toward peace taken since 1972! If Israel literally turns into a vengeful monster and sparks a wider war, Hamas will have won! I pray Netanyahu sees this ... sees he is playing into Hamas’ hands!
I feel like Netanyahu is in a Kevin McCarthy kind of situation, having to appease people on both/all sides. I do not have much hope for these poor innocent civilians. I am filled with sadness.
You are too kind to ‘Netty’! He is a flame thrower, a hatchet man cut of the same cloth as Jim Jordan!
And the former president.
Except that Netanyahu is trying to stay out of jail, like Trump, rather than trying to be a half assed king-maker with inadequate skills, like McCarthy. Criminals have different motivations than people who seek power so that everyone will love them.
I saw a report last night that hospitals in Gaza were performing surgeries WITHOUT anesthesia because they had run out. Where is the compassion for human life for those innocent people trapped in Gaza? What Hamas did on 10/7 was inhumane but what is happening in Gaza is also inhumane-no food, no water (drinking toilet water), no medical supplies…. Where is the compassion for life?
Joanne, perhaps, your auto-correct wrote 'Anastasia' instead of 'anesthesia', which is what I thought you intended.
Thank you for bringing my attention to this article. I do not normally read him because I swear he gets paid by the word. This was very powerful.
Biden failed…! Air Force One hadn’t landed and Tom rushes to judgement! The Israeli equivalent of gym Jordan is the prime minister of Israel! The threat has been made but it is a fool’s wish to obliterate Gaza! For each terrorist leader we kill, dozens are waiting to take their place! War is not the answer!
Louis, you may disagree with Tom Friedman; I have and others that I know strongly disagreed with his support of the Iraq war and on a few other topics. With that, I do not think of him as rushing to judgement.
'Thomas Loren Friedman is an American political commentator and author. He is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner who is a weekly columnist for The New York Times. He has written extensively on foreign affairs, global trade, the Middle East, globalization, and environmental issues.'
'He is the author of seven New York Times bestsellers — From Beirut to Jerusalem, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Longitudes and Attitudes, The World Is Flat, Hot Flat and Crowded, That Used To Be Us (with Michael Mandelbaum) and, most recently, Thank You For Being Late.'
'It was a visit to Israel with his parents during Christmas vacation in 1968–69 that stirred his interest in the Middle East, and it was his high school journalism teacher, Hattie Steinberg, who inspired in him a love of reporting and newspapers.' For more about Tom Friedman, see the link below.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Friedman
Thanks for posting this, Fern, as I admire Friedman greatly. The US is as guilty of slavery and pushing people into poverty as Israel has been doing to the Palestinians for decades. The time is NOW to change the thinking of men, those so intent to continue to carry out violence. Hamas should be dealt a heavy hand but wait until after we get the hostages freed. Let us not give Israel’s prime minister, Netanyahu cart blanche authority. The Israelis can’t stand him nor the Likud Party because they are so hard-lined. Permitting more settlements in the West Bank is wrong and cruel. Palestinians want to breathe the same air and have the same opportunities that the Israelis have. I hate the fact that we do not see any women in power in any of the Arab nations nor in Israel. It’s unconscionable that they are not at any tables!
Today, Ali Velshi had Dr. Hanan Ashwari on. She was instrumental in negotiating peace talks with Yassar Arafat. Do you remember her? She is now the spokesperson for the Palestine Authority. This interview is excellent and really needs to be seen by everyone.
https://www.msnbc.com/ali-velshi/watch/fmr-plo-peace-negotiator-elections-are-part-of-resistance-196128837799
Fern, thank you for the details you shared....I completely agree. Netanyahu has already shown who he is and what he wants.
He wants to use good faithful US Jews to support his massacre by sending American dollars to Israel which will further involve the US. This will insight our enemies. Cries are all over the news to support Israel....."send us money!!!"
We must respect the freedom of religion...not persecuting people for a different belief or using this to insight starving our fellow human beings or of taking land long assigned to them.
I am so thankful that we have a right to worship as we choose or to honestly not choose a faith if we don't believe....in this country. Freedom is a treasure we do not value enough.
I see the increase in areas of disruption in our world, a tool of our enemies. They know as freedom loving Americans of goodwill and faith we can easily be led to give to religions we support that may be led by their less than faithful, self-serving leaders.
It is a time for great wisdom and intense observation. We must have measured...wise... responses.
Yep:,
"‘I believe that if Israel rushes headlong into Gaza now to destroy Hamas — and does so without expressing a clear commitment to seek a two-state solution with the Palestinian Authority and end Jewish settlements deep in the West Bank — it will be making a grave mistake that will be devastating for Israeli interests and American interests.’"
Another 20 years or more of angry Palestinians. Maybe a different approach would consist of aid minus military weaponry to Israel.
For the first time, I agree with Friedman. An invasion of Gaza could spell disaster for Israel. People are already in the streets in other countries about this. This would be genocide, to go along with the apartheid. Israel already has a long list of UN described crimes that are always vetoed by the US. We could see WW III.
As writer Ted Rall said, Hamas planned their outbreak in detail. A counter attack by Israel would be expected. They would also have planned some choice surprises. Plus, public opinion would swing in their favor. https://rall.com/2023/10/15/israel-should-respond-not-react
For years, I avoided reading Tom Friedman. He seemed so uncritical of Israel and unwilling to see the Palestinian suffering, but whatever happened, he seems wise to me now. Perhaps seeing Netanyahu's corruption alerted him to the dangers of overreach. Perhaps it's the "settlers" on the West Bank. Whatever it is, I'm reading him again with close attention. (Could be confirmation bias, but I'll take that, too.)
Someone uttered the line above that Friedman is right.
I’ll just leave this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LNUapxMlRE
The world looks different when people feel the consequences of their actions: Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, Jim Jordan are examples here. The time is coming for Donald Trump. Will it ever come for Benjamin Netanyahu?
Sometimes there are positive consequences. Because the Senate has become something of a bipartisan body an important proposal that comes from Elizabeth Warren and Roger Marshall is possible. Imagine such a thing happening in the House of Representatives.
Have thought a great deal about the hubris behind the actions of Chesebro, Powell and all the rest (Trump especially). They thought they would get away with it all. They thought the justice system would never catch up with them (tad scary, coming from lawyers). In old fashioned terms, what goes around comes around. Much of the world awaits such justice for Trump and his poison. As for Warren and Marshall, amen. Some of our leaders continue on, to get the right stuff done.
They thought it wouldn't catch up with them because if they'd succeeded they would have -become- the justice system. And they nearly did. We're not anywhere near out of the woods yet, but Chesebro and Powell crumbling is wildly good news.
Thank you for the comment. Consider my free newsletter: Len's Political Notes. https://lenspoliticalnotes.com
I have always wondered what the coup organizers were thinking as they realized their coup had completely FAILED. I think the lawyers, house reps, and Trump thought they could outrun or out maneuver, like a football receiver, all the way to the goal line,in this case election day Nov 2024. It seems the non-denighers in the House are feeling empowered. What do they know that we don't know?
What I find disgusting are threats to the judges and potential juries AND republicans who refuse to vote for Jordan. trump says he is innocent and doesn't incite his minions to action. Have you ever seen the way he speaks? He should be in jail, but that would make him a martyr and give him a free campaign platform.
I have noticed those who contribute are very educated and pick up on grammar and punctuation. trump is in small letter purposely
No matter the issue, our government, President, Senate, House and SCOTUS, needs to be up and running. At 80 years Biden is up, running and achieving. But the GOP which rules the House of Representatives is unable and unwilling to govern during these perilous times for our country. They should never be given the power to govern again. We are not a Banana Republic. The GOP is a Banana Party.
I guess it would also be correct to call the Fascist GQP, a ROTTEN Banana Republic. Most of them are rotten to the core.
I agree
Yes and the Rs are the party of death at this point. I am glad that those Rs stood up to Gym and all the death threats they have been getting which seem to be the MO of those whose support death star and his acolytes.
Gym. I like that. Very clever.
Not original with me.....people have been using this for a long time.
Call your Representatives! Give them encouragement and a big thank you if they have come down in support of reason and common sense. Ask them when they will and give them som reasons to do so soon if they have not yet. You voice matters!
I applaud President Biden for his unprecedented involvement to provide humanity and common sense to the interminable Israel/Palestinian imbroglio.
President Carter, at Camp David, initiated an extraordinary breakthrough between Egypt and Israel. President Clinton, at Camp David in 2000, was unable to bring the Israeli prime minister and Palestinian Arafat to any agreement.
In response to Hamas’s brutal savagery, Netanyahu declared war on Gaza, endangering 2,000,000 Palestinians. Biden flew over to seek to minimize this military riposte and avoid the killing of countless individuals, including, possibly, about 200 hostages.
I believe that Netanyahu and his extreme right wingers bear major responsibility for the intolerable situation in Gaza, the West Bank, and with 2nd class Arab citizens in Israel. This created a pressure cooker where explosions were inevitable.
President Biden is the first American president who has intervened with an Israeli prime minister in such a direct and public manner. Whether this will make any significant difference to the trajectory of Israel’s response to this Hamas calumny is uncertain.
From his heart and in pursuit of American strategic interests, President Biden has stepped into a dreadful situation in the hope that he can prevent a massive humanitarian disaster and, perhaps, provide the basis for a somewhat better longer term dynamic between Israel and the Palestinians.
One way the government of Israel can avoid future occurrences of nights like October 7 is to carry out a genocide against Palestinians within the current borders of Israel plus the West Bank and Gaza that is as complete and effective as the one settler colonialists of primarily European heritage carried out against the indigenous population within their borders and expansionist territories in North America in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. I don’t know what fraction of Israelis or of American Jews or of (especially) American Evangelical Christians who dominate religion-based politics in the United States consider such a genocide to be an acceptable way to avoid future events like October 7, but it may be shockingly far from zero. President Biden is trying to find another way. So have most US presidents since 1948. Obviously, none have succeeded. Maybe Biden will if he is given a chance (which requires the US electorate to put Democrats in full control both the executive and legislative branches in 2024). I think Biden has a better chance of leading a humane solution than any other president since 1948. I hope he will be given a chance and will succeed, but I suspect that few, if any, savvy gamblers could be found who would bet on it.
Rex, there’s one big difference between Israel’s prospects for the Palestinians and the genocide inflicted on the native Americans. The native Americans weren’t surrounded by allies who had the power to wreak chaos on the perpetrator, with the potential to become a nuclear war.
Yes. That’s a mitigating factor. Ironically.
Yes; very true. Until now, when Israel may be about to step on the mouse trap.
Rex, this is an interesting comparison and you are spot on about people who think genocide is a solution. It would have to be total as well because it is something that survivors never forget and it continues to fester for centuries. I hope that Biden is given a chance to do what he can. Thanks for your post.
Yes. I was thinking about that as I watched Ken Burns film about the buffalo. It was almost unbearable to watch the aggression and, yes, desecration carried out by European Americans against the buffalo and indigenous people. And when we "rescued" the bison from extinction, we separated them from the people whose lives had been intertwined with theirs. And let's not forget the treaties we signed with them and then ignored. In all, I found it humbling that we hold ourselves up as the defenders of liberty in the world even as it can be demonstrated (as in our invasion of Afghanistan) that we, too, are subject to human passions and irrationality.
The Burns documentary, good as it is, presents a tiny peek at the atrocities committed by the “builders” of America. You can find a more complete account in Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s well-sourced History of the United States. It takes a lot of stomach to read even a hundred pages of it. Early on she cites a letter from George Washington when he was president to one of his generals in Ohio that, to summarize briefly in modern parlance, explained to the general that in dealing with indigenous people, cruelty was, most definitely, the point. An inference (in my mind at least) from other facts she presents is that an important reason for the 2nd Amendment was that the government did not have enough soldiers to carry out all the “necessary” cruelty against the indigenous population.
I read Dunbar--Ortiz's book when it came out, but having run into a couple of people who couldn't make it through even Part One of the Burns doc (written by Dayton Duncan), I felt the tragedy was carefully and effectively presented. And Part Two was even better, IMO.
Yes, I agree that the Burns documentary was excellent. The Dunbar-Ortiz book was harder for me to get through, but it’s easy to understand that the opposite could be true for many people. Thanks for making that case.
And tfg would have pourled fuel everywhere.
Biden's experience, compassion, and understanding of foreign affairs makes him a positive figure for history to wind itself around in these years, almost a Jimmy Carter lookalike.
The following concerning aid to Gazans and their ability to exit appeared in the Washington Post just minutes ago.
‘Trucks carrying humanitarian aid passed through the Rafah crossing from Egypt toward Gaza on Saturday for the first time since the war began — a breakthrough that signaled much-needed aid was on its way to the besieged enclave. The official Hamas-controlled press agency in Gaza confirmed the first “limited convoy of basic needs” had moved through the crossing, but added that the supplies will not be enough “to change the humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza. The first convoy is expected to include 20 trucks carrying medicines, medical supplies and canned food, the statement said. The trucks waited for days to enter Gaza, which is facing dire straits after Israel imposed a “complete siege,” cutting it off from food, water and fuel. Palestinians told The Washington Post it would be extremely dangerous to distribute the aid without a halting of Israeli airstrikes, which have continued across the Strip, including in areas Israel said were safe zones. The U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs said earlier Saturday the crossing might open. It remained unclear whether people seeking to exit Gaza would be able to pass the other way on Saturday, but the office warned of a “potentially chaotic and disorderly environment” with many people attempting to cross if it does.’ (WAPO)
It should be noted that - because of Israel’s objections - the aid convoy is not carrying fuel desperately needed to power generators in Gaza’s hospitals. And, as Biden noted, one reason for the delay was that the road had to be repaved - although he didn’t point out that this was because Israel had bombed it. The senselessly disproportionate Israeli response to the dreadful Hamas attacks continues.
Very happy that humanitarian aid has finally moved through the crossing. But if Hamas wants to halt the airstrikes it must release all the hostages. While they hold hundreds hostage and continue firing into Israel they have no business complaining about Israel’s air strikes.
One more thought: the Oct 7 attack was brilliantly planned and executed. Every detail was considered. Israelis were murdered and captured - I suspect more than had been intended. The Hamas leadership also planned for what would happen on Oct 8. Israeli outrage. World condemnation. Israeli missile strikes. Gazan civilians dead. Electricity and fuel cut off. A reversal of world outrage. It all is happening at the Hamas leadership planned. They are using the unimaginable suffering of the Gazans to further their own ends, always focused on their only goal: the elimination of Israel. And the world continues to follow their plan, with one exception. So far, Israel has not sent groups
tRUMP always claimed after he left office that America was turning into a banana republic. He may be right (for once) but it's the REPUBLICAN'TS causing it.
True. "Banana Republics" have been those manipulated by the financial power of US corporate interests; in the manner of the modern "Republican Party".
That said, I see signs of public power reawakening.
Exactly so, JL. Apt comparison.
It is Trump himself causing it and the fanaticism he unleashed. Why people are drawn to him is beyond my comprehension but at least 1/3 of US voters are and that terrifies me.
Trump lives to break all the rules and get away with it, and mostly his money and fame has let him do so. Thank goodness for the sake of rule of law and justice the courts are going after him. For Trump the fine is just symbolic, but surely this it it on his second, third. fourth, etc. chances?
The judge has warned Trump the fines will escalate. This first one is to see if his current lawyers can rein him in or, as would be sensible, flee the sinking ship.
Ahh, nudging his lawyers to ditch him!
Any lawyer who wants to keep their law license and reputation needs to watch what is happening in the Georgia Court and make some good decisions based on the past behavior of their client. It seems to me, but, what do I know?
This would raise his martyr status. He will say he is in jail for his people.
And, if they continue his crimes, there will be a big, fat precedent for jailing their asses, too. Far too few of them have suffered any consequences
Hmmm. Do you really think TFFG knows who Ghandi or Mandela are?
True. Not sure he remembers MLK either.
The sense of entitlement that the House Republicans feel as they continue to drag out the selection of a speaker in these times of crisis is unforgivable. The fact that they STILL believe they have the right to decide to keep putting up a parade of self-selected narcissists, apparently at the rate of one a week is beyond absurd. If they in any way believed in the democratic process they would come to the floor, allow anyone to nominate who they will, and then take the vote and see who gets to a majority first. And stay there until there is a Speaker.
Or they could get the job done all at once. There is nothing in the Constitution that says the House can't use rank choice voting, or the Republicans could make it a rule in their conference, or McHenry has the power to just DO IT. People order all of the candidates in terms of their preference, and the candidate with the lowest number of votes gets dropped and their votes given to their second choice candidate. It keeps going until someone gets a majority. You could keep the results secret OR you could publish them after the fact, something I believe would be the right way to do this since governance should be transparent.
By the way, I think all elections in this country should be run by some version of rank choice voting. Just sayin'.
It has worked well, so far in Maine. Jared Golden beat his rivals twice with ranked choice voting. The first time he did he initially came in 2nd but the ranked choice voting put him over the top.
He has done an excellent job for his constituents and the country, but his Independent contenders have been excellent candidates as well. With ranked choice voting the Independent candidates voter 2nd choice put him over 50%.
Thanks for adding the to the discussion with some first hand experience. I've written more about RCV on my substack. I would love it if you could comment there as well on the broader ideas, especially coupling it with an idea to get rid of gerrymandering.
I will look you up. I'm still pretty new to sub stack so thanks for letting me know.
I'll have to consider the gerrymandering angle of RCV.
This is from the wikipedia article on Jared Golden and the 2018 election.
On election night, Golden trailed Poliquin by 2,000 votes. As neither candidate won a majority, Maine's newly implemented ranked-choice voting system called for the votes of independents Tiffany Bond and William Hoar to be redistributed to Poliquin or Golden in accordance with their voters' second choice. The independents' supporters ranked Golden as their second choice by an overwhelming margin, allowing him to defeat Poliquin by 3,000 votes after the final tabulation.[10] He is the first challenger to unseat an incumbent in the district since 1916.[11]
Poliquin opposed the use of ranked-choice voting in the election and claimed to be the winner due to his first-round lead. He filed a lawsuit in federal court to have ranked-choice voting declared unconstitutional and to have himself declared the winner. Judge Lance E. Walker rejected all of Poliquin's arguments and upheld the certified results.[12] Poliquin appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and requested an order to prevent Golden from being certified as the winner, but the request was rejected.[13] On December 24, Poliquin dropped his lawsuit, allowing Golden to take the seat.[14]
That is a hugely important bit of information! That there is a already ruling through the US court of Appeals in the 1st Circuit certifying the legality of using RCV!
If you want to know more about ranked choice voting:
https://fairvote.org/our-reforms/ranked-choice-voting/
We almost won RCV in MA. At the last minute Gov Baker put a nail in it. We worked so hard.
Georgia, thanks for the link. I’d love open primaries and ranked choice voting. We have the computing power now to make it a reality.
Me too!
No one mentions that there are over half a million displaced Israelis who have had to abandon their homes in the last two weeks to avoid missiles and further terrorist activity. Children are not in school, families are split as reservists have been called up.
Netanyahu will be held accountable for his actions. But in the meantime I have some observations:
Why is it ever questioned why Hamas did not protect Gazans by allowing them to enter the 500km of underground tunnels to seek shelter?
Why is it never mentioned that an estimated 450 terrorist missiles have fallen out of the sky without warning, onto the Gazan people, killing their own people, in the past two weeks - and likely/possibly even before then.
Nor is the question ever asked, why did Hamas not build shelters for their people - instead of tunnels of terror?
Nor does anyone ask about the hypocrisy regarding observance of international law: Israel was founded under international law. - just as the borders of Ukraine were established under international law. For more than 70 years, Israelis have had to fight back again, and again and now again - to hold on to what was given to them under international law. Israel did not attack Egypt, or Syria or Lebanon - Israel was attacked.
Hamas must go - their only reason for existence as is written in their mandate, is to destroy the State of Israel and kill all the inhabitants. How can there ever be peace - or even neighborliness when your neighbor is constantly planning to kill you?
Michelle, agreed! But then there's the issue of Israeli settlers in the West Bank and their apparent sense of impunity when dealing with those whose territory they are settling in.
And they keep on coming. Doesn't International Law forbid such settlement?
Hamas needs the Palestinians as human shields. The more of them that die, the more evil and depraved the Israelis look to the world.
This is a zero-sum game for them.
Hamas is a terrorist organization.
Yes. All excellent points. Also why do the pro Palestinian protesters do nothing to provide humanitarian aid to the Palestinians but fund billions for terror attacks. Why won’t they let the Palestinians work or become citizens. The Palestinians along with surrounding Arab countries waged war against Israel and lost. In 1948 and in 1967. They instigated the wars and now claim they were “expelled”. No. They lost a war not once but over and over again. Then all the Arab countries expelled their Jewish populations (who hadn’t started any wars). It seems to me that Hamas has no legitimate claim to anything.
The good news about the speaker debacle is that it slows Biden down on pushing more billions for war with Israel and the proxy war in Ukraine. There never seems to be enough money to spend on war but we can’t afford to spend money on health care, climate change, poverty and all the things that would help people instead of the military industrial complex.
If we don’t help the Ukrainians stop Putin now, when will it seem necessary to you to stop him, after he tries to annex Poland? After he rolls over Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia? Read some history, (as I wish Putin would!) and start calling all the Republicans who still support the viciously useless Jordan, and encourage them to get on board with democracy and stop supporting autocracy. As soon as Biden has majorities in both houses of Congress, he will start working again on those things which are near to his heart as well as yours, but we have to have a working government first. Putin perceived Biden to be weak, and he perceived Zelenskyy to be weak, and thankfully he was wrong. Iran perceived Netanyahu to be compromised, which is true, and Biden to be weak, which is wrong, because Biden is reminding the world to differentiate the Palestinian people, who are citizens of Israel, I think, from Hamas, a terrorist organization with the slogan, “Kill all Jews.” Bibi’s campaign to push all the Palestinians into Egypt has been a well-documented non-starter for millennia. We need leaders with some better ideas. Biden is the model of that leader. Help him out here, could you? Support people who believe in democracy.
If Putin isn’t stopped in Ukraine, he’ll roll into Poland next. People need to remember what happened the last time a fascist dictator invaded Poland. It didn’t end well for anyone.
As far as Netanyahu goes, once this is all over (and it will be, someday) he’s toast. A massive security failure on his government’s watch allowed Hamas to kill 1300 Israelis and capture 200+ hostages—hostages they hadn’t planned on taking back to Gaza. Hamas succeeded beyond its imaginings because Israel simply wasn’t prepared for this.
Netanyahu was too preoccupied with his push to destroy the judicial system to keep himself out of trouble and putting down rebellion among his reservists (who were demonstrating en masse in the streets) that he completely lost focus. Bibi is done. Stick a fork in him.
Good riddance to NitWitYahoo.
The only “winners” in this war are the arms merchants and Netanyahu, if only temporarily. Big hug and big money from Biden and now he’s a “wartime leader” instead of a wannabe dictator trying to shut down an independent judiciary.
Good grief. I’ll bet you would support losing 58k Americans again in Vietnam just to prove that the domino theory was valid as political theory. Madness abounds these days.
No, America going into Vietnam to try to finish what France spectacularly failed to do was stupid from day one. This is a totally different sort of stupidity. Why is Hamas considered the leader of the Palestinians? Why is Netanyahu and his coalition of right wing thugs considered the leader of Israel? What can we do to help people vote for individuals who do don’t have bigoted , autocratic impulses to murder everyone who is not like them, into high office? Vietnam was long go and far away except for my friends who still grieve MIA family. Focus on the now. Biden has so far, gotten Hamas to give back a couple hostages, convinced Egypt to allow some humanitarian aid into Gaza through their border, and is encouraging Netanyahu to wait on his all out assault on his own land and people. What exactly do you not approve of, about these current events?
It does nothing to get at the real reason behind the conflict; that being, Zionism.
Just to be clear, my response referencing Vietnam had nothing to do with Israel/Palestine; it was directed at the Russia/Ukraine comments above that Putin had to be stopped before rolling into …. Wherever.
The "never enough money" to fund a social safety net problems is due to the extremely low rate of taxes billionaires pay.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Well that is certainly part of it but the cost of never ending war is equally if not more of the reason.
There is no good news about the clown show that is our Congress. Without a working House, the government will shut down in November. And in the meantime, money for aid for Gaza is held up, along with money for aid for Ukraine to fight off the hordes of Putin, and for Israel to eradicate Hamas. We cannot shirk our duty, but Congress (the Republicans) is certainly trying to do just that.
We either send money, or we send our sons and daughters.
Fortunately, Biden has taken the path of sending money instead of our sons and daughters in Ukraine. Not that there aren't hundreds of US volunteers working with the Ukrainians Army, but Biden didn't send them to die like W, Obama and Trump did in Afghanistan.
Yeah, because every choice is reduced to binary cliche. Please.
What do you suggest as a realistic option at this moment in time? We clearly need some new ideas.
The first thing I would do is quit treating Israel like a clueless parent who always defends a delinquent child. One cannot countenance the existence of an open-air prison/concentration camp under any ‘strategic’ circumstance. It’s akin to trying to rationalize slavery. If you haven’t already, I can’t recommend enough watching the link below. We cannot begin to discuss options until we understand history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0aemeCbRTk
The failure of the people who set up the creation of the Israeli state to monitor the situation and ensure that the existing Palestinians and the newly minted Israelis were equally protected by the new state is another astounding failure of diplomacy and common sense. And that failure continues down to this day. It’s like the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s, but with heavy artillery and a lot more 4th cousins once removed who really wish it would just stop, but none of them have enough money to have much of a say. But what exactly would you have our current government do, at this current moment? Also, you do seem to know more about this than most of us. Do you know who the political head of Hamas is? Name, background? Do you know who the head General or Secretary of War or whatever title the Hamas guy who drives the fighting is? I know for sure that when we start talking about individual people instead of headless entities, that helps the quality of the conversation right there. Saying Netanyahu and the current right wing coalition is always better than saying the Israeli government or the Israelis, but we see almost none of that concerning Hamas, the terrorist organization, the current Palestinian Authority, or whatever it is called, and the Palestinian people, although I did see a statement by some official that the aid that came from Egypt was much less than the usual daily amount, which was eye opening in itself.
Simply put, I would make our foreign aid to Israel contingent on its treatment of Palestinians under its purview. We did the same, after far too long, to South Africa, another apartheid state. As to the Hamas questions, all are a quick google click away. The reasons people know Israel politicians, but not those of Hamas, are probably varied, but it’s not an aberration; we pay more attention to ‘authority/oppressor’ names in news. The ‘oppressed/victims’ get lost at times in the process of dehumanizing coverage, if they are on the wrong side of government narrative.
Fwiw, here’s a snapshot reading list/site list that brought me to where I am vis a vis my take on the policy front. The web writers whose analysis I respect most at present are Chris Hedges, Patrick Lawrence, Caitlin Johnstone, and Matt Taibbi.
Reading list and websites
Books: The Shock Doctrine; Democracy, Inc; Death of the Liberal Class; Winner-Take-All Politics; With Liberty and Justice (for some); The New Jim Crow; Dog Whistle Politics; The Looming Tower; Blowback; A Brief History of NeoLiberalism; Merchants of Doubt; Dark Money; Democracy in Chains; Hate Inc.; Tropic of Chaos; Stamped From the Beginning; Goliath; The Fifth Risk.
And in the last couple of years: Wildland; The Division of Light and Power; The Devil’s Chessboard; The Jakarta Method; American Exception; American Reckoning; Sickening; No Politics But Class Politics; The Collapse of Antiquity; Silent Coup.
The two curation sites I get daily email updates from are Scheerpost and Consortium News.
Websites/substack/YouTube channels I frequent are: System Update; The Grayzone, Racket News; Useful Idiots; The Duran; The Lever; Status Coup; RBN; Jimmy Dore; Bad Faith; Unlimited Hangout; Pluralistic; Mark Sleboda; Richard Medhurst; Seymour Hersh.
We should not send either but especially not our sons and daughters! I am so tired of the war mongers and our horrible foreign policy. Both parties are equally at fault there. Why do we never learn?
Netanyahu’ s goal is expansion. He wants the Palestinians gone. US $$$ to fund his brutal war machine would be best spent at home.
We have a current defense budget of $816.7 billion. We spent $2.27 trillion in Afghanistan and have less than nothing to show for it. Are you happy with the way we have spent our defense budget money in the past and how we are spending it now?
While the defense contractors get rich are we supposed to let Russia, China, Iran, North Korea invade other countries?
I support Biden's approach of keeping our troops out of harm's way as much as possible. Ukraine and Israel are our allies. We need to support them as we expect them to support us.
And the $105 billion requested is even more problematic in the light of the latest budget deficit. It climbed 23 percent to $1.7 trillion. The question is what are we going to cut to fund the $105 billion?
Maybe people should just pay their taxes so we can protect our country and our Allie’s?
Maybe we could tax the rich like we did before Trump cut their taxes. And the mega-corporations that pay nothing.
I don't think Bezos or Nancy Walton are going to have to sell their $500 million and $300 million yachts if we raise their taxes a little.
How about restoring tax brackets to where they were when Eisenhower was president.
Stifling. In 2022, the top 50 percent of wage earners paid 97 percent of all federal taxes and the bottom 50 percent 3 percent. The top 1 percent pay over 20 percent of the total. I assume you only want the top of the Eisenhower bracket because in 1959 the lowest bracket was 22 percent vs 10 today.
Oh piffle. The top 50 % paid most of the taxes, compared to the bottom 50% because they made more money to tax. But those in the 85%tile, wage earners making sound $150,000 taxable income, paid 20 to 30 % of their income on taxes, (Say $30,000) in taxes, they really did, and they have $120,000 to live on. The top 5% of earners, making many millions on dollars a year largely from non-taxable passive income, pay, by one estimate I saw in Forbes, 7% of their income in taxes. So, a moderate earner in that tax bracket, say a baseball player with a nice $20,000,000 contract, pays 7% thanks to a good tax lawyer. He pays $140,000,and has $19,860,000 to live on. Even if he doesn’t have a good tax lawyer, and pays $4,000,000 in taxes he still has $16,000,000 to live on. Now do the math on some corporate whiner who say he should get a bigger severance package as his company goes into bankruptcy due to his mismanagement. I think we should do like some of those Asian city states. Everybody pays 15% of everything. No deductions. No exceptions. Robust social safety net for those who have less. If the Amazon guy and the Tesla guy and the Meta guy each paid 15% of what they claim claimed they made kart test to the government, that would be some billions going toward the debt and our safety net right there, let alone this silent billionaires who don’t brag so much.
You are confusing your disdain for high wage earners with the actual math of taxes. If someone is paid 20 million in salary on their w2 they pay 37 percent in federal tax or 7.4 million.
I do not distain high earners. If they pay their taxes I applaud them. I distain high earning tax cheats, and those mentally ill hoarders of money who think that $100 has the same significance to them, who would tip a bartender that much, as it has to someone whose food budget for a month is $100.00.
Good point as we fund endless war what will we cut. It is usually funding for people that have the least.
No kidding, I read the amounts of US $ allotted to war efforts in these countries and could cry.
In the meantime I am spending every waking moment in misery with eye issues and fighting for my 2 health insurance policies to treat me!
That is because the wealthiest Americans have not paid their fair share of taxes for decades. All the tax cuts since 1980 benefit the richest people in the country and we now have income inequality that we experienced in the Gilded Age.
A problem we have is lack of context. Americans voluntarily spent $10 billion dollars on Halloween last year, expected to be $12 billion this year. The $77 spent so far on Ukraine was about three percent of the Pentagon total budget. (Personally I think the Pentagon budget is vastly greater than it should be.)
Proxy war? No. Prevention of future US involvement if Putin acts on his announced plans to take the “Baltic provinces” and part of Poland.
We will have to agree to disagree it is totally a proxy war and many experts say it is un-winnable. We have put barriers to a cease fire and negotiations. We have essentially used Ukrainians as cannon fodder in the US/NATO war against Russia. It is a war that never had to happen. Putin is horrible and our foreign policy is not a whole lot better.
Yes, agree to intensely disagree. My main source of info is Timothy Snyder, historian expert on Ukraine and its history. He writes a blog calledThinking About.
Ukrainians could have just surrendered if they wanted to avoid being “cannon fodder.” What countries has NATO ever attacked? Putin wants to restore the former Soviet Union to its size before it broke up.
There is so much…
It’s appreciated you can succinctly cover it all.
At risk of being too optimistic…..I’m hoping that Trump’s reign of terror may be diminishing…those 86 secret votes in the House vote on Jordan keeping his ‘designee status’ as Speaker are heartening….actually all three public votes were heartening….and Fani’s three ‘turned’ indicted conspirators also heartening….no trial for the last two and a ‘felony Plea’ this time…one hopes the NEXT plea bargain on that Georgia case may be a major player like Meadows ….and the time for serious ‘bargains’ is running out..that jail a most unappealing location to serve one’s ‘term…
And there are other promising signs….my guess… and that’s all it is…is that when Trump implodes it will be fast…lots of rats departing the ship…..
And hopefully Meadows, Ghouliani, Eastman also end up behind bars.
So many people on Trump's enemy list and so many people he's screwed over that helped him be the Fascist he is, have switched their allegiances or Trump has kicked out of his tent.
We couldn't have a better man as president during these times, than Joe Biden. I've heard that foreign/international affairs are his thing so this is good. He has the right temperament and experience to approach this Middle East Crisis in a logical manner. I have heard that the aid trucks have begun to roll into Gaza. Now we can only pray.
In terms of the 'guilt free dumb caucus', we've dodged a bullet with Jordan's debacle but we're still in danger. I hear them throwing spitballs trying to find ways to blame Democrats for internal repub difficulties. One thing that has stood out is the threats that their constituents have made to others of their own party who aren't voting for the extremists. I really believe that a whole lot of maga people have personal issues and have found a safe haven in the maga cult to manifest behaviors that are frowned upon. Thank you HCR. Hope you're getting some rest.
Yes, a NY judge fined Trump $5,000 for gag-order violations. Trump will probably parlay that to $5M in campaign donations from rubes and boobies. So, instead of being a negative for Trump, it’s a plus. Any fine under several million dollars is a nothing-burger with respect to suppressing future violations of the gag order. What is needed for fairness to other people charged in similar cases and for prevention of gag-order violations is incarceration until the trial is completed.
Nobody is going to toss a rich, fat white male into jail here in Amurca.
That is against the founding principals of Amurca!!
Yes, I think you’re right about that. My assertion concerned fairness and effectiveness, not likelihood.
Especially for a fraud case. The judge will fine him $10 million before he/she throws him in jail.
Trump makes more than $10 million from his avid followers using his victim status with his somewhat slow witted donors in an hour.
Hopefully, the fines will continue to get bigger and bigger. If karma prevails TFFG will be fined $250 million or more for the NY fraud case. That's going to take the TFFG criminal empire a while to recoup. Several big donors have already seen the future and they no longer contribute to agent orange.
Now if that judge will add another 0 to the amount of the fine every time Trump violates it again, it would only take a half dozen violations to put Trump in a world of hurt again.